Slow Cooker Lasagna from Kraft's Food & Family magazine


Don't know how many people actually subscribed to this free magazine, but it's chock full of recipes and every once in a while i gleen an idea from it. Granted, i don't use the Kraft ingredients called for the in recipes, or the low fat options, because we buy mostly organic, however, none the less, the recipes can be really yummy.

A couple months ago, i received notice that they would no longer be sending them, unless you paid for them. Well, truth be told, i don't find them that great. So i skipped it. This month, i found another in my mailbox, with "helpful tips" for cutting time and expense of making meals. (Both of which i still think has a drastic impact on the family table....but i digress.)

One recipe i found intriguing was lasagne slow cooker style. Here it is....

Brown 1# ground beef in a skillet and drain. (I also added onions and garlic to the mix, because personally, no spaghetti sauce is worth eating unless it has the flavours of these two ingredients.)

Add 26 oz bottled sauce and 1 c. water and let simmer.

In another bowl, mix 15oz ricotta, 1.5 cups mozzarella cheese, 2TBSP parmesan, 1 egg, and
2 TBSP fresh parsley.

Into crock, add 1 cup meat sauce, break 3 lasagna noodles to fit in crock and arrange to cover sauce. On top of noodles, spread half of the cheese mixture. Repeat (2 c. sauce, 3 more noodles, and rest of cheese mix.) Finish off with the rest of the sauce and put on the lid.

Cook for 4 to 6 hours on LOW heat or until the liquid is absorbed. Then sprinkle with another 1.5 cups of mozzarella and let stand, covered, until cheese is melted (10 + minutes.)

Easy, eh? The recipe says you can make it even easier by making it up ahead of time, refrigerating it, and then cooking it by the following day.

I can't wait to try my Dad's homemade spaghetti sauce recipe in place of the jarred sauce used in this recipe! With the Italian sausage and spices. Eewwww wee!