Monday, January 25, 2010

Crockpot Lasagna

I love Lasagna, and I love my crockpot. I've been experimenting with different ways to prepare my favorite dishes in the crockpot and this is one that has proved a hit:

1 box lasagna noodles (the ones that want you to boil before assembling the lasanga)
1 lb of ground beef, or sausage (my favorite) or italian/spicy sausage, or turkey sausage (if you want to be weird & healthy)
1 jar of spaghetti sauce (I use the one I can each year, but you could use any grocery store variety)
1 regular package of fresh sliced mushrooms
1 can of black sliced olives
8 oz. of Ricotta cheese (if you are still using cottage cheese for lasagna, seriously stop. now. ricotta is so much better)
1 -2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

Optional add ins: a chopped green pepper, 1 tsp Italian seasoning (I would recommend this if you are using ground beef or turkey sausage), a layer of pepperoni slices

Instructions:
1. Brown meat (add additional seasoning as desired)
2. Mix browned meat, sliced mushrooms, sliced olives (other desired chopped veggies --I'm excited to add Zucchini come summer!) with spaghetti sauce (reserving 2 T of sauce for bottom of crockpot)
3. Mix together ricotta cheese & mozzarella (reserving a small handful of mozzarella for the top)
4. In crock pot put a thin layer of sauce on the bottom, put down layer of noodles (you'll have to break them up a bit to fit), put a layer of meat/veggies/sauce mix, put a layer of cheese mixture, repeat, ending with just the plain mozzarella on top.
5. Cook on low for 4-5 hours

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