The sausage should be softly golden-brown after a few minutes. Not totally cooked yet.Place sausage mixture in crock cooker bottom.
Add chopped carrots, bell pepper, chicken broth, smashed tomatoes, bay leaf, paprika, dried parsley, salt, and pepper, and roughly a third of the chopped cabbage.
Stir everything well. If you can stir the remaining chopped cabbage into the soup, excellent. If not, leave it on top—it will cook down while the soup cooks.