Still into crockpot recipes. That's not something that's going to change anytime soon. Especially with this cooler, wintery type weather that's moving in, there's nothing better than something hearty, warm, and slightly spicy. Last week, I challenged myself to find a recipe that 1) wasn't potato soup and 2) didn't actually involve potatoes at all. I stumbled across this one, and with Scott's approval, made it for dinner this week. With some tweaks of course, because I can't leave anything alone, and also because I might've messed a couple things up. But lets get onto it, shall we?
Whatcha Need:
18 oz Italian Sausages
1 tablespoon olive oil
Onion powder
Garlic powder
2 cans of navy beans
1 (large- don't make my mistake) can of chopped tomatoes, drained
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions:
Poke holes in the sausages and throw them in a pot with about 1/4 cup water. Bring that to a boil and cook until the water has evaporated and the sausages are brown-ish. Transfer them to a plate.
Drain and rinse the beans.
Here's a side note. I am a suuuuper picky eater. I have the diet of a cranky, spoiled 8 year old. I have a weird thing about textures, and basically I don't eat my fruits and veggies. Ever. So the idea of chunky tomatoes in my soup was not at all appealing. So I threw mine into the blender and hit puree and voila- tomato sauce. Basically.
Here's where the other problem was though- I grabbed a small can of tomatoes. I guess I had thought I was halving the recipe or wrote it down wrong or something, but I ended up with half the amount of tomatoes I was supposed to have. So I added about 1/4 c water. No biggie. It came out just fine.
Anyway. Heat oil in the same skillet. Add garlic powder, onion powder, navy beans, tomatoes (or tomato puree) and thyme. Stir frequently.
After everything's nice and warm and mixed up, pour half of the bean/tomato mix into the crock pot. Then put in your sausages (whole). Then pour the rest on top, cover, and cook. The original recipe says on high for 4 hours, but I work during the day, so I cooked it on low for about 9 hours. Apparently this recipe can also look kind of dry, and if you're home to check on it you can add water. I wasn't home, and mine was perfectly not dry when I came home after 9 hours.
When you're ready to chow down, remove the sausages from the pot and slice them up. Add salt and pepper to the beans/tomatoes, and then toss the sausages back in and stir. Serve it in a bowl with crusty bread and talk about how amazing of a cook you are for an hour at least.
Things that I will do differently next time:
We are going to try a spicy sausage next time. Italian sausage is great, but Scott and I both agreed we'd like to try it with a spicier sausage next time.
More tomatoes- maybe even more beans. My bean to sausage ratio was off, but I think that was due to either a failure in my math skills, or a "this is the amount they have at the store so it's what we are going to work with" situation. Either way, I know I was lacking in the tomato area based on my 14 oz versus 28 oz or whatever can of tomatoes. It tasted fine, so it wasn't that big of a deal, but I'll go for more next time. Plus that gives me more tomato juice to sop up with my bread at the end.
Less salt. I come from the "don't measure just toss in what seems right" school of cooking, and I tossed in too much salt. Scott didn't think so, but I did. And as the chef, my opinion counts more than his. I also come from the "I don't do cloves of garlic or onions" school, which is why my recipe uses the powdered versions instead of chopping up the real thing, but you go for it Glen Coco.
Final verdict:
I mean come on, do I even have to say it? Delicious.
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