G'day Molly and Julie, So glad you liked the sound of the recipes. I am almost ashamed to admit that I very rarely use my crock-pot. I remember it when it is too late to do anything about it.......ho hum.
My excuse is that now we are approaching our summer, Julie and I won't be needing it for a while, as we shall more than likely be picking your brains for lovely cooling salads, main meals and desserts etc, and nice, frosty, cold drinks in 'long, tall glasses'. Reminds me of that song, sung by Leo Sayer.
Sorry I missed you MOlly, and Terry, this am, I do get up to silly things at times...I went food shopping, can you imagine that!! Nowhere near as interesting as talking with you two. Gotta go now, but before I do......

Sausage soup Italiano
1 1/2 to 2 lbs mild Italian sausage, cut into pieces
2 onions, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can, (28 ozs) Italian-styly tomatoes, undrained
2 medium zucchini, sliced
1 large green pepper, seeded and chopped
2 quarts stock, (homemade, canned or bouillon cubes)
1 cup dry red wine, such as chianti
1 package (3 ozs) spaghetti sauce mix with mushrooms
1 package (7 ozs) elbow macaroni
Grated prmesan cheese

Method
1. Brown sausage; remove from skillet and reserve.
2. Saute onion and garlic in sausage fat until tender.
3. Combine sausage, onion, garlic, and vegetables in an electric crock-pot.
Add beef stock and wine.
4. Add enough cold water to the spaghetti sauce mix to make a smooth paste.
Stir it into the mixture in the crock-pot until well blended.
5. Cover and cook on low setting for 6 to 8 hours, or until vegetabls are
tender.
6. Near the end of the cooking period, cook macaroni according to directions
on package, then stir into soup in crock-pot.
7. Serve, sprinkled with parmesan cheese.
8. Enjoy.