Recipe #5 Chicken Sausage Crock Pot Meal

Wednesdays are busy nights at the Consolver "homestead" as Kyle calls it. 

His schedule is 9-5 and mine is 9-4:15 with a few short breaks. 

On top of that, my chemistry class has night exams on Wednesdays. Awesome. 

Needless to say, Wednesday nights are crock pot nights.

Here is our first crock pot meal :)

Chicken Sausage Crock Pot Meal

{borrowed adapted and enjoyed from: Crock Pot Best-Loved Slow Cooker Recipes}

Serves 4

Ingredients: 

1 T olive oil

1 clove garlic

1/2 yellow onion, minced {about 1/2 cup}

1 lb sweet or hot Italian chicken sausage

1 {28 oz} can whole tomatoes {drained and seeded}

1/2 red bell pepper {cut into 1/2 inch slices}

1/2 yellow bell pepper {"   "}

1/2 orange bell pepper {"    "}

3/4 cup chopped fresh basil

crushed red pepper flakes {to taste}

sea salt and ground pepper {to taste}

hot cooked whole wheat pasta

1) Heat oil in a skillet until hot. Add garlic and onion. Cook until fragrant and translucent. Add sausage {removed from casing and cut into 1/2 inch chunks}. Cook 5 minutes or until starting to brown.

2) Put mixture into crock pot, add tomatoes, peppers and seasonings. Stir.

3) Cook on high for 2 1/2 or 3 hours. 

4) Add basil in the last 20 minutes for best flavor.

5) Cook pasta. For whole wheat pasta, its sometimes better to cook it for the longer amount of time, or even a tad over, because it softens the texture that some don't like.

6) Serve chicken sausage and veggies over pasta.

Enjoy!

Note: This recipe is easy, fairly cheap and pretty darn healthy! You get your veggies from the peppers and onions. The chicken sausage is very flavorful, but not nearly as high in fat as traditional pork sausage. The whole wheat pasta is full of fiber! This meal is tasty and filling. We added a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese on top because we had some. 

Bonus: you can use the leftover bell peppers to cook into your morning eggs or as an easy pizza topping in one of your next meals. :)

What are your favorite crock pot recipes?

All for now,

Alexandra