An Unconventional Slow Cooker Red Sauce

I love cooking on the weekends because I usually have plenty of time to cook slowly and to unwind.  I'll usually pick a recipe that takes a little more time - time that I don't often have during the week.  But this past Sunday, I had a list of errands to run and tasks to complete so I decide to take out my slow cooker and do some lazy weekend cooking.

I took out a package of sweet chicken and apple sausage from the freezer and let it thaw. 

I thought that the sausage would go well with red sauce and pasta.  I couldn't get Renee's Vegetable Loaded Homemade Spaghetti Sauce out of my head so I decided to make my own version using the slow cooker and some ingredients from the pantry, freezer and fridge.

I started by adding a can of crushed tomatoes to the slow cooker.

I then added half a bottle of leftover Rocko's Gourmet Bloody Mary mix. 

I also had a package of Tuscan bread dipping herbs in my fridge that I still hadn't opened up.  I thought these herb and garlic seasonings would be great for a red sauce.

I wanted to make this sauce hearty so I drained and rinsed a can of butter beans and also added that to the slow cooker.

I also minced up a few leftover garlic cloves and added that to the sauce.

I had an open bag of frozen peas in the freezer and I added about a quarter of the bag to the sauce.

I gave the sauce a stir and seasoned it with salt and pepper.  I gave everything a taste and the sauce was way too spicy from the Bloody Mary blend.  I decided to add a small can of diced tomatoes to the sauce to help mellow it out.

I let the sauce cook on low for eight hours. 

At the seventh hour, I added the sliced thawed chicken sausage to the sauce, along with eight Bove's frozen meatballs. 

I let the meatballs and sausage cook in the sauce for an hour.  While the sauce was simmering, I boiled a pot of salted water and added a mix of whole wheat penne and regular penne.

When the pasta was done, I served it with a healthy helping of the red sauce and a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese.  The pasta sauce was definitely not traditional.  The peas and butter beans thickened the sauce up while the Bloody Mary blend added some heat.  This sauce was hearty, spicy and definitely hit the spot! 

Tell me, do you like cooking on the weekends?  If so, what did you cook up this past weekend?