Chicken Sausage with Peppers & Basil

(recipe from Rival Crock-Pot)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/2 yellow onion, minced (1/3 cup)

1 pound sweet or hot Italian chicken sausage

1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes, drained and seeded

1/2 red pepper, julienned into 1/2-inch strips

1/2 yellow pepper, julienned into 1/2-inch strips

1/2 orange pepper, julienned into 1/2-inch strips

3/4 cup fresh basil

Crushed red pepper flakes to taste

Salt and black pepper to taste

1. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and cook until translucent.

2. Remove sausage from casing and cut into 1-inch chunks. Add to pan and cook for 3-4 minutes, until just beginning to brown. Transfer to crock-pot slow cooker with slotted spoon, skimming off some fat.

3. Add tomatoes, peppers, basil, red pepper flakes, salt and black pepper to crock-pot slow cooker and stir to blend. Cook on HIGH for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until peppers have softened. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Makes 4 servings.

My suggestions: Frankly, I have several. Where to start...

• a) I very much dislike cooking with whole tomatoes. Use diced tomatoes. Whole tomatoes make the entire dish look sloppy.
• b) Chicken sausage is weird. I would have substituted Italian Sausage instead to give the dish more flavor. Chicken sausage is bland and tastes EXACTLY like chicken, but with a sausage texture. Definitely not worth the $3.99/lb, which, by the way, I could only find at Sunflower Market.
• c) Any bell pepper that is not green, is a fairly expensive vegetable. You can find red peppers on sale for a good price, but yellow and orange peppers are a bit pricey. I bought a 3 pack of the peppers (orange, yellow, red) at Macey's for $5.00 which is usually cheaper than buying them individually.
• d) Fresh basil is hard to find! I was only able to locate it at Sunflower Market in PLANT form- you know, just in case I want to grow my own. I would have tried using dry basil leaves instead. Cheaper and probably do the same trick.
• e) Slow cooker time was WAY off...at least for me. I cooked it for 2 1/2 hours and the peppers and tomatoes looked wilted. Make sure to adjust your cooking time to the size of your crock-pot, which is something I should have done.

And if you're still thinking about making this dish after all that, here is my last suggestion...

• f) Don't waste your time. Really.