Abs Favorite Recipes

I enjoy eating lasagna but have never enjoyed making it. Its just a messy dish. It always seems to bubble over in the oven and well like I said just a messy dish. I have seen recipes for the slow cooker before but I was just not sold on them being as good but I am now.

Source: Best of County Slow Cooker Recipes Cookbook

Prep: 20 min Cook Time: 4-6hrs

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 large onion chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced or (1/2 tsp dried minced garlic)
• 1 can (29 oz) tomato sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 package (8oz) no-cook lasagna noodles
• 4 cups (16 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1-1/2 cups (12oz) small-curd cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a skillet, cook beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no linger pink; drain. Add the tomato sauce, water, tomato paste, salt and oregano; mix well. Spread a fourth of the meat sauce in an ungreased 5-qt slow cooker. Arrange a third of the noodles over sauce(break noodles if necessary).

Combine the cheeses; spoon a third of the mixture over noodles. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining meat sauce. Cover and cook on low 4-6hrs or until noodles are tender.

Yield: 6-8 servings

This turned out very well. I added a little more tomato sauce and I don’t think I really needed it. I also added some extra oregano because well I have a thing for oregano.  I had some Ricotta cheese left over from another recipe so I mixed that in with the other cheeses as well. If you would like more noddles you could do a few more layers just use a little less sauce or cheese mixture per layer.  I will definitely make this again.

I have had some questions about this recipe so I wanted to share some things. No cook noodles are great! Traditional lasagna noodles require you to cook them before you make the dish. No cook noodles are great because this step is not needed you just put the noodles right into the slow cooker. They are right next to the regular noodles and are also called oven ready. Also sorry the picture is not better. I just scooped a big spoonful out of the slow cooker and plopped it on the plate so it was not the best looking(my kids where hungry :p). Another thing if you want to add a few extra layers you may want to add some extra tomato sauce(6-12oz). If you do a few extra layers you may also want to use a 6qt slow cooker as well. It may add some extra cooking time so check it around 4 hours but it may take 6 just give it a taste test to see how the noodles are cooking.