What's for dinner Mum?: Sausage and Bean Hotpot

This recipe is basically a concoction of recipes I have followed, improved upon, now it is just in my head and at last I have written it down. This recipe uses a lot of staple canned vegetables that I keep a good stock of on the shelves. Four bean mix, tinned tomatoes and tomato soup, the fresh vegies are pretty basic too. The sausages I used were extra lean pork sausages with ginger and shallots, you can use whatever sausages you like, so long as they are flavoursome and preferably not your cheapest variety of pigs bits and pieces (sorry). My slow cooker is 6 litres, if yours is smaller just halve the ingredients. When cooking I always make a big batch so we can spread it across for two meals. You can also cook this on the stove top in a large pan which is what I used to do, at least with the slow cooker you can leave it all day. Enjoy!!

Sausage and Bean Hotpot

                                     4 potatoes diced
                                     1/2 orange sweet potato diced
                                     1 red onion sliced
                                     2 sticks celery diced
                                     4 cloves of garlic cut in half
                                     2 500g packets of sausages
                                     2 800g cans of diced tomatoes
                                     1 420g can tomato soup
                                     1 750g can of 4 bean mix drained and rinsed
                                     2 1/2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
                                     1-2 tablespoon soy sauce
   1 tablespoon brown sugar
                                     salt/pepper to taste
                                     2 teaspoons chicken stock dissolved in the water
                                     2 cups water
                                     1 cup chopped green beans (optional)

Brown the sausages in a pan and then add to slow cooker.

Dice and slice vegetables and add to slow cooker along with the garlic.

Add the canned ingredients, the worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, water and stock. If you're like me who left it until midday to get the pot ready, keep slow cooker on high for a few hours first. Otherwise just slow cook on low for at least 6 to 7 hrs.

One hour before serving take the sausages out of the pot and slice into bite sized pieces and then put them back in the pot. I also like to cut up some green beans at this stage and put them in the pot too, so they don't get too soggy for the first serving and stay a little crunchy.