This freezer to crock pot soup is nice and hearty, making it perfect for cold days. I also like that it is easy to adapt this spinach and sausage soup according to your preferences.
This ground sausage crock pot recipe is hearty and delicious. If you hate spinach or the texture of cooked spinach, you can substitute zucchini for the spinach. 
Spinach and Sausage Soup Recipe:
1 lb. ground Italian sausage (I prefer the spicy variety*)
24 oz. jar pasta sauce
19 oz. can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
10 oz. chopped spinach, fresh or frozen
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup small pasta shells
Brown the ground sausage in a skillet. *If you can handle spicier food, I strongly suggest you use the spicy Italian sausage as it is so much tastier in this recipe.
Once the sausage has cooled, add it to a large resealable freezer bag. Pour in the pasta sauce, the drained white kidney beans, chopped spinach, chopped carrots, diced onion, minced garlic, and chicken broth. Remove excess air and seal.
Put the raw pasta in a medium resealable bag. Staple the bags together and freeze.
On cooking day, take the bag out of the freezer and thaw. Separate the bags and add the large bag to a slow cooker. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Add the pasta in the last 20 minutes.
This hearty crock pot sausage and spinach soup is perfect for a winter day.
- 1 lb. ground Italian sausage I prefer the spicy variety*
- 24 oz. jar pasta sauce
- 19 oz. can white kidney beans drained and rinsed
- 10 oz. chopped spinach fresh or frozen
- 4 carrots peeled and chopped
- 1 onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup small pasta shells
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Brown the ground sausage in a skillet.
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Once the sausage has cooled, add it to a large resealable freezer bag. Pour in the pasta sauce, the drained white kidney beans, chopped spinach, chopped carrots, diced onion, minced garlic, and chicken broth. Remove excess air and seal.
-
Put the raw pasta in a medium resealable bag. Staple the bags together and freeze.
-
On cooking day, take the bag out of the freezer and thaw. Separate the bags and add the large bag to a slow cooker. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Add the pasta in the last 20 minutes.
You can change up this recipe by using different types of jarred pasta sauce and determining which is your favourite flavour combination. I prefer to use fresh spinach but you can try it with either and see what your preference is.
Looking for other freezer to crock pot meals? My slow cooker freezer meal plans include printable grocery lists and labels.
This spicy red lentil soup is so delicious. It especially hits the spot on a cold winter day after cross country skiing!
Having freezer to crock pot recipes on hand saves me so much time and sanity. This is one of the regular meals in my rotation. When I make it, I make two or four of these recipes at a time. The recipe below is for one meal, but if you want to make several at a time to freeze, then multiply the ingredients accordingly.
These Christmas ice box cookies are one of my holiday favourites. With the candied cherries and pistachios, they look like bits of Christmas on a plate! Making the dough ahead of time and slicing before baking makes them all very uniform in size which makes them look even prettier.
Inexpensive ideas for gifting cookies:
Cinnamon buns are one of the first things that I learned to bake. They seemed like a big undertaking so I used to make the dough in my bread maker but over the years as my confidence has grown, I have tried many versions of cinnamon buns and haven’t found any yet that I don’t like because it’s hard to go wrong with delicious dough, cinnamon and sugar! What I like about this particular recipe is that they can be made much faster than my other recipes because you don’t need to leave time for them to rise and there is no yeast to contend with.
These no rise cinnamon rolls are of course best served warm, but even if they are served once they have cooled, you won’t be hearing any complaints!
