Crock Pot Chicken and Sausage Stew...Revisited

There are three recipes that are consistently visited here: the Wonder Pets cake, the Gronkle cake and Crock Pot Chicken and Sausage Stew. The cakes I understand and am rather proud of them. The other one? Ugh. That was one of the worst disasters ever to come out of my kitchen.

Now part of the problem was I had accidentally substituted Pork and Beans for the Baked Beans. Yes, Virginia, there is a difference. Whatever my excuse, I never had much of a desire to try it again.

But so many people were arriving here looking for that recipe, I finally decided to give it a second try.

I mean chicken and sausage stew? In a crock pot? How could you possible go wrong?

Cut up a pound of chicken breast and kielbasa sausage and put them in the bottom of your crock pot.

Add a half a bag of baby carrots. You can slice them up if you want, but I didn't want.
Half of a sliced onion goes on top of that.
Some ketchup, mustard and brown sugar, along with a bit of white vinegar.
Topped with a can on Baked Beans. I almost said Pork and Beans. That would have been tragic.
With about 15 minutes left until dinner, add in 2 cups of THAWED green beans. If you haven't gotten them out to thaw, pop them in the microwave for a few minutes.
Stir it up and serve.
This was better. Much, much better. The chicken was still a little chewy. I'm not sure if it was cooked too long of if something was working against it. I would almost leave out the baked beans all together next time as neither child was thrilled about them.

It has been saved. This will probably not be the first recipe I pull out when I am wanting soup, but definitely be an option.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Crockpot Chicken and Sausage Stew

1/2 lb. kielbasa sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices

2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into thin bite-sized strips

1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot

1 small onion, thinly sliced, separated into rings

1 (16-oz.) can baked beans, undrained

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 cup ketchup

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 cups Frozen Cut Green Beans, thawed

1. In 3 1/2 to 4-quart crockpot, combine all ingredients except green

beans; mix well.

2. Cover; cook on low setting for 6 to 8 hours or until chicken is no

longer pink in center.

3. Ten minutes before serving, stir in green beans. Increase heat to

high setting; cover

and cook an additional 10 minutes or until green beans are crisp-tender.

4 (1 1/2-cup) servings (9 Weight Watchers points)

Sausage and Mushroom Pumpkin Soup

It's that time of year again. Pumpkin Time. I am content.

Did you know that in other parts of the world, pumpkins are seen as vegetables? Can you imagine a world where pumpkin pie is considered weird? Not me. But then I live in a world where pumpkin soup is considered strange.

Well, my world view has shifted. I have branched out into the realm of savory pumpkin.

Start out by browning a pound of your favorite sausage. I used mild pork sausage. Add in some chopped yellow onion, minced garlic and sliced mushrooms.

Saute this down until the mushrooms and onions are tender. Add in your pumpkin. Now, of course, you can use canned pumpkin, but I believe I have made my views on this known. I used 2 cups of pumpkin puree.
Mix this well and stir in chicken broth and a small can of tomato paste. Also add in a tablespoon of your favorite Italian seasoning. The only kind my grocery store had was McCormick's. This came in a bottle with a grinder just like pepper comes in. I highly recommend this kind. Let this simmer for about 25 minutes.
Add in a half cup each of water and heavy cream and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Serve this with some hot breadsticks.
Oh my. Oh my, my. I didn't make enough of this. My picky nephew was with us for supper again and he went back for thirds. This is definitely become one of my all-time favorites.

Even if you have never considered adding pumpkin to your supper line up, you MUST try this.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Sausage and Mushroom Pumpkin Soup
12 oz sausage
1 garlic clove, minced
½ cup yellow onion, minced
½ cup heavy cream
15 oz can pumpkin
1 tablespoon tomato paste
½ cup water
4 cups chicken broth
½ cup fresh mushrooms, chopped
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Brown the sausage, drain the fat, and then add the Italian seasoning, mushrooms, garlic, and onion. Sauté until tender.
Add the pumpkin and combine everything well.
Stir in the broth and tomato paste, and then simmer the soup for about 25 minutes.
Stir in the water and cream and simmer for 10 minutes more.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Slow Cooker Tortellini and Sausage Soup

For some reason, I haven't had my slow cooker out for awhile. I have been so sick lately, even the thought of getting dinner ready in the crock pot has seemed overwhelming. This recipe came to me in a Google group called Just Crockpot. It's not an overly active group, but once a week, I get a few new recipes delivered to my inbox. There are no pictures, but some of them sound so good I just have to try them.

This was one of them.

And it is soooooo easy. The only chopping you have to do is the sausage. Everything else is frozen or from a can. For no other reason than the simplicity, I highly recommend it. Especially this time of year when you start to feel stressed for no apparent reason.

Add to your slow cooker one can of Italian chopped tomatoes, one can of condensed French onion soup, half a package of frozen green beans and one pound sliced turkey sausage. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. (Note: I halved this recipe from the original.)

Fifteen minutes before supper, add in half a package of frozen cheese tortelli and one cup of coleslaw mix. Switch the setting to high. I actually left mine on low and cooked for about 45 minutes more.

Serve sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

This was incredible. Definitely the best supper I have tried in quite awhile. In the words of Mantis..."I wish my mouth was bigger." Go watch Kung Fu Panda. Really, it's a good movie. And this was the soup that inspired that line.


Click here for Printable Recipe

Crock Pot Tortellini and Sausage Soup
1 can (14-1/2 oz) Italian style stewed tomatoes
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup loose pack frozen cut green beans or Italian style green beans
1 can (10-1/2 oz.) condensed French onion soup, undiluted
8 oz. fully cooked smoked turkey sausage, halved lengthwise and cut
into 1/2" slices
1 cup packaged shredded cabbage with carrot (coleslaw mix)
1/2 pkg. (9 oz.) refrigerated cheese filled tortellini
Shaved or shredded Parmesan cheese, for garnish

In a 4 or 5 quart crock pot/slow cooker combine undrained tomatoes, water, frozen green beans, onion soup, and turkey sausage. Cover; cook on LOW heat setting for 8 to 10 hours or on HIGH heat setting for 4 to 5 hours. 
If using LOW heat setting, turn crock pot/low cooker to HIGH heat setting. Stir cabbage and tortellini into soup. Cover; cook for 15 minutes more.

Garnish soup with shavings or shredded Parmesan cheese.

Ham and Beans

I haven't been cooking. Actually, I haven't been doing much of anything thanks to a major invasion on my sinus cavity. Jeff has been working nights and he isn't home for supper, so my kids have pretty much been fending for themselves. But I did manage to put together soup for the other night.

I never used to like ham and beans. And to be honest, I have never had much in the way of really good version of the soup. But, my mother sent me home from her house with an enormous ham bone. So what else was I going to make??

This recipe called for carrots. I've never seen them added to ham and beans soup, but I had them and my kids love them, so in to the slow cooker they went. About a cup that have been sliced.

Add in a half a chopped up onion.
  Add in a bag of dry northern beans. This was actually the for this particular recipe. You don't have to soak the beans overnight. Just pour straight out of the package.

Place your ham bone on top of the beans.

Add two cups of water, some salt and pepper, cover and cook on low for about 7 hours.

Remove the ham bone and put it on a plate to cool a little bit.

When you can handle it without injury, remove the meat from the bone and put it back into the cooker.

Heat it all through and serve.

This was really good. Even the kids enjoyed it. I'm thinking that cooking it in the crock pot allowed the ham to flavor everything else. And the carrots were a really neat addition that I will put back in from now on. Try this, even if you think you don't care for ham and beans, this just might be the version to change your mind.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Slow Cooked Ham and Beans

1/2 C Sliced Carrots

1/2 Chopped Onion

1 Bag Dry Great Northern Beans

1 Hame Bone

2 C Water

Add all ingredients to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove ham bone and peal the meat off. Add meat back into soup. Serve.