Slow Cooker Sausage Stew

I treated myself to a slow cooker just after Christmas, so my next couple of posts are slow cooker recipes. I am literally using it for everything. I made a bolognese in it the other day and a jambalaya.
In a bid to save time making dinner after work and not have to eat rubbish oven food everyday, I've been prepping my veg the night before then chucking all the ingredients into the cooker before I go to work. My slow cooker also seems to cook slightly quicker than what the instruction guide says so I've plugged it into a timer on the wall and set it to come on 6 hours before I get home from work (little tip if you're out all day).
The dumplings can be made in 5 minutes and put in the stew to cook within 30 minutes. If you don't want to go to the hassle of making them fresh then you can make a large batch beforehand and freeze them uncooked. If you do freeze them then make the dough, shape into balls as usual and place on a tray in the freezer for a few hours, once frozen you can then put them back in the freezer in a food bag or container without them sticking together. Time saved.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 Veggie sausages (Linda McCartney one's are really nice)
2 potatoes peeled and chopped
2 carrots chopped
1 onion chopped
6 mushrooms quartered
1 parnsip peeled and chopped
6 broccoli florets
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp dried garlic or 3 cloves diced
1 litre vegetable stock
2 tbsp gravy granules mixed with 100ml boiling water
1 tbsp cornflour mixed with 1 tsp cold water


For the dumplings:

50g vegetable suet
100g self raising flour
Pinch of salt
1 TSP mixed herbs
75ml water

In a bowl add the flour, herbs and salt to the suet and stir in the water to form a pliable dough that's firm. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and shape into balls. Set aside until you need them.

Add all the stew ingredients to the slow cooker. Stir the cornflour mix in well so it's not lumpy. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. In the last 30 minutes of cooking add the dumplings on top of the stew and cook until they puff up (30 minutes should be long enoygh). If the sauce isn't thick enough when cooking ends add another tbsp cornflour and leave to cook an extra 10 minutes.
Serve with warm crusty bread to soak up the leftovers.