Oh... my poor cooking blog has suffered greatly with my recent move. Life just got kind of crazy with all the packing and very little cooking going on... at least not anything blog-worthy... plenty of fish sticks, pancakes, and frozen pizzas. However, I just got the kitchen unpacked today, and I felt it would be appropriate to hop back in the saddle with the christening of my new kitchen.
How and why have I never tried this? It was like it has never occurred to me to bake the lasagna in the crockpot. BRILLIANT. So tasty and perfect consistency... oh, and did I mention you don't even have to cook the noodles? That tipped the scales for me. Don't know if I can ever go back now.
*Lyd's Tip: It is probably a good idea to spray the sided with cooking spray so it doesn't stick, but for the bottom, I just started with a little bit of the sauce mixture spread over the bottom and then start layering, and I had no problem with sticking.
Easy Crockpot
Lasagna
1 pound
(16 ounces) ground beef
1/2 cup
diced white onion
1 teaspoon
minced garlic
1 (24
ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup
water
1 (15
ounce) container ricotta cheese
2 cups
mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup
grated Parmesan cheese
1 whole
egg
2 Tablespoons
fresh parsley or 2 teaspoons dried parsley
6 uncooked
lasagna noodles
In a large
skillet brown beef and onion. Add garlic and cook for one minute. Drain.
Add
spaghetti sauce and water and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Mix ricotta,
1 1/2 cups mozzarella, 2 Tablespoons Parmesan, egg and parsley.
Pour 1 cup
of spaghetti meat sauce into a 4 to 6 quart sized slow cooker. Place half of
the noodles and half of the ricotta mixture on top of the sauce. Cover with 2
cups meat sauce. Top with remaining noodles (If the noodles don't fit exactly
break them to fit) and cheese mixture and meat sauce.
Cook on low
for 4 to 5 hours or until noodles are soft. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of mozzarella
and remaining parmesan. Cover with the lid to melt the cheese and let it sit
for 10 minutes before serving.
Do not
overcook and don't try to speed up the process by cooking it on high.
*Works best
with a 4 to 6 quart size slow cooker.
(From: tablespoon.com)
