Crockpot Pizza Soup

I've had some bad luck with crockpot recipes lately. They've burned or just haven't cooked like they should. So when I went to my favorite website for crockpot recipes & found this one I was hopeful but had some backup options in the freezer just in case.

It's a good one! Really, really good!

1 jar (14 oz.) pizza sauce
3 empty jars full of water
1 green bell pepper, seeded & chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup baby tomatoes, cut in quarters (or 1 can diced tomatoes, drained)
2 already-cooked Italian sausage, cut in quarters
1 cup sliced pepperoni, sliced in quarters
8 fresh basil leaves, 1/2 T dried basil
1 T dried oregano
1/2 to 1/3 cup pasta (I used spiral noodles)
shredded mozzerella cheese (for later)

This makes A LOT so you need at least a 5 quart crockpot.

Wash veggies & prepare. Dump in crock pot. Cut up sausage & pepperoni & dump in crockpot. Add basil & oregano. Pour in pizza sauce, followed by 3 jars of water.

Cover & cook on low for 7-9 hours. About 30 min. before eating dump in pasta & turn temp up to high.

Garnish bowl with cheese if desired.

A couple changes I did:

I couldn't find pizza sauce so I bought a traditional flavor of spaghetti sauce. Close enough I guess. My package of sausage came with 5 & I decided to use all of them. Two just didn't seem to be enough & I like meat. I added the entire bag of pasta (16 oz.). I tried 1/2 cup, even a whole cup, & it didn't seem like much at all. Jeremy thought it was a little too much pasta, but I didn't mind.

We each at just one bowl & there is a ton left. Jeremy asked to take it to work tomorrow & we'll probably eat it again over the weekend. I'll definitely hold on to this one, especially when cold weather comes . . . someday.