Rain rain go away...3 weekend recipes for the rainy day blues

Seriously?...I am so over this weather. I had a really crappy week and I get to celebrate with flood warnings in my area. Last year, two weeks after I purchased my car I was caught in a flash flood and had to have my entire engine rebuilt. So this weekend I refuse to drive anywhere except Crosby's Marketplace. I grabbed their circular and pulled out some of the featured sale items.
For years I stayed away from slow cookers due to memories of crappy pre-frozen meatballs and other staples you find at large gatherings of people. It kinda always tasted muddled , overly salty and over cooked...But then through trial and error I discovered what dishes really work and which ones you just slow cook the taste out of everything. Now EVERY weekend I always have something brewing in the "cauldron" as I like to refer to my slow cooker. It's perfect because there are always people in and out of my house and it's something you can do and people can just pick all day. That being said Pot roast is the most perfect rainy day meal and it is on sale this week for only $3.29 a lb. So I bought a little 2lb roast a couple large potato's grabbed a few handfuls of green beans and I already had some carrots and celery...I also bought a pack of Italian style sausages for $3.99 a large onion , a beautiful yellow pepper, a pack of fresh sub rolls and a gorgeous 16oz pint of fresh strawberries for only $2.99.(for a fabulous fondue) My bag of groceries came to just over $20!! And here's the kicker...all three dishes can be made in the slow cooker!!! That's enough to make you want to sing in the rain!

Slow Cooker Sausage Peppers and Onions
1 pack of Italian sausages        1tsp olive oil         1 pack sub rolls
 1 yellow pepper sliced            1 bay leaf              1/4 cup white wine
1 large onion sliced                  1tsp fennel seeds     Dijon mustard
 In slow cooker combine sausage white wine olive oil fennel seeds and bay leafs cook on low heat for 2 hours. Then add yellow peppers and onions mix around and cook for 30 minutes(check the inside of sausage to be sure its cooked add another 30 minutes if needed) then turn heat to warm and everyone can come grab a nice sausage pepper onion sandwich ..leave the rolls and mustard near by.
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Slow Cooker Pot Roast
2 lbs pot roast                     3 carrots chopped
3 large potato's quartered      3 celery stalks chopped
1 cup red wine                      3 cloves garlic mashed
1 onion diced                        1 packet beef onion dry soup mix
green beans(2 hand fulls)        1tsp olive oil/1 bay leaf/1 tbsp peppercorns

Put all ingredients in slow cooker on low and cover 4 hours until you can put a fork through potato easily. Turn to warm and again let everyone help themselves..
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Strawberry Fondue
1 pint strawberries                       1/4 cup brandy
1 cup semi sweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
Turn the slow cooker on low and heat the chocolate and cream until chocolate is melted stir frequently and then add the brandy...turn heat to warm. Place a bowl of fresh washed strawberries and stick next to the slow cooker and this is a terrific movie night dessert...YUMM!