Creamy Sausage Stew

(Photo by Taste of Home)

I found this recipe some years ago and we always enjoy it: Creamy Sausage Stew.  I usually use half the amount of sausage, cut in smaller pieces than specified, and I usually use light sausage.  I also use fat-free half and half instead of the heavy cream.  The dish still tastes very rich but it is a lot lower in fat.  Cornbread or any Italian or French bread would be a nice accompaniment.

This time I wanted to see if I could adapt the recipe to the slow cooker so I could take it to our church potluck lunch.  (We have lunch together every Sunday during the winter following Sunday School and morning service,  and then just have a 1:30 p.m. service after lunch.  It works out well and means we don't have to venture out again for an evening service in cold, sometimes inclement, weather.  And the fellowship is great!)  Anyway, I tried adapting the recipe and it worked out quite well.  I roasted the vegetables and sausage as directed, but I don't have a large roasting pan so used 2 13x9-inch pans and covered them with foil.  I roasted them for about an hour.  Then, I transferred them to the slow cooker and left them on Warm until I got to church.  They had cooled off quite a bit, so I turned the cooker to Low for the next  hour.  Then (after Sunday School) I stirred in the cream and cooked it on Low until we were ready to eat.  I then mixed in the cornstarch mixture, right in with the ingredients in the slow cooker.  There was plenty of heat to cook the cornstarch and slightly thicken the mixture.  It went over quite well, but I was not at all sorry to have some of the stew left to bring home.  We like this recipe a lot!