Chunky Italian Sausage Stew, Cook Once, Eat Twice Category

Chef1MOM~Connie's Note:

"After a long day sit down with a steaming bowl of stew that's chock-full of favorite pizza flavors." Adopted from the Better than Mom's Slow Cooker Cookbook. Swap Summer 2009. Partner Mandabears. This can be frozen, used for OAMC, or for a Round 2 dinner later in the week.

• Total Time: 5 hrs 25 mins
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 5 hrs

Ingredients:

Yield: 6 +reserves

• 2 lbs Italian sausage (hot or sweet bulk)
• 12 ounces pepperoni , unsliced, cut into 3/4 chunks
• 4 yellow sweet peppers , cut into thin strips
• ½ cup finely chopped onion (1 mediium)
• 2 (4 ½ ounce) cans sliced mushrooms , drained
• 1 (2 ½ ounce) can sliced pitted ripe olives , drained
• ¼-½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 (26 ounce) jar pasta sauce with mushrooms

Directions:

1. In a very large skillet cook the bulk sausage over medium heat until brown, stirring ocassionaly to break into bite size pieces.
2. In a 5-6 quart crockpot, stir together sausage, pepperoni, sweet pepper, onion, drained mushrooms, drained olives, and if desired, red pepper falkes. Por pasta sauce over sausage mix in cooker.
3. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours on low, 2-3 hours high.
4. ---------------------------------------------------------To seperate for Dinner 2- use a slotted spoon and remove 3 cups of stew mixture and store in airtight container in fridge up to 3 days. Can be frozen for up to 3 months.
5. ---------------------------------------------------------To seperate for Dinner 2 being a stew again, remove 3 cups plus sauce and refrigerate as above or freeze as above.
6. Thaw in fridge over night before reheating and using for pizza topping, stew mixture, soup mixture, or pasta sauce ingredients. You be the creator for the second dinner.

Reviews

[NurseJaney]

*Made for Australia/New Zealand Swap # 51* Prepared 1/2 according to recipe, and put all ingredients in slow cooker for 1 hour. Since the pasta sauce was the only "liquid" for a large amount of meat and vegetables, it appeared to be so thick as to be pizza topping. I added about 3-4 cups of beef broth and a few dashes of Frank's hot sauce, to make it more stew-like, but actually went too far and had a more soupy consistency. Continued to cook in slow cooker for 2 hours on HIGH, then 2 hours on LOW. It was very tasty, served with flaky refrigerated biscuits -- DH got into a second bowl, with plenty left over for another meal. Thanks for posting, Connie -- I am freezing the rest for next week.