Spicy tomato mussels

INGREDIENTS:
6 qt. crockpot
2 1/2 (ish) lbs. mussels
3 Tbsps olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 shallot cloves, diced
8 oz. mushrooms, diced
2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
2 Tbsps oregano
1/2 Tsp basil
1/2 Tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp paprika
dash red chili flakes
3/4 cup water

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large saute pan, heat up olive oil.  Cook garlic, shallots and mushrooms for 2-3 minutes, until garlic is just a bit brown and fragrant.  Scrape entire contents of the pan into your crockpot.

2. Add all remaining ingredients to your slow cooker except your mussels.  Cook on LOW for 4-5 hours, or on HIGH for 2-3 hours.  You're cooking until your mushrooms are fork tender and until the flavors meld together.

3. Tackle those mussels just like the video above shows you how.  Not sure if it's alive or not?  If you're on the fence, toss it.  It's not worth getting sick over.  I bought 2 3/4 lbs originally, and ended up tossing 4 mussels total, leaving me with right at 2 1/2 lbs.  You should budget a bit of wiggle room and plan to throw out a few.

4. Once your mushrooms are cooked and your sauce is done, crank the crockpot up to HIGH.  Add cleaned mussels to the pot and secure lid tightly.  Cook for 30 more minutes.

5. Ladle your mussels into bowls with plenty of broth.  If any mussels didn't open up during cooking, toss those as well.  You don't want whatever is in there. 

6. Traditionally, you'd serve a dish like this with crusty bread to sop up the broth... but I just dig out all of the mussels, stir it into the broth and then eat it like a soup.