I have
been hungering for lasagna for quite a while now, but haven’t felt like cooking
on a large scale. But today I got to it and made a BIG batch of lasagna in my
large crockpot:
Lasagna
cooked in the crockpot is quick and easy to put together, and I think the meat
is more tender too. Anything that saves me time off my feet in the kitchen and
tastes like I have been slaving for hours is a plus with me ;-)
This
recipe makes a LOT of lasagna; I was thinking I could have meals to freeze that
would last me 6 months, but after scooping out my first serving tonight, I am
thinking it may take me darn near through 10 months or more. Seriously.
This
recipe does not “crisp” like the traditional oven-baked recipe does, but I did
notice that the bottom layer will burn on the High setting … so when I make
lasagna again in the crockpot, I will bake it on the Low setting. I don’t mind
a blackened meal, but some people do.
I have
several cookbooks with wonderful lasagna recipes int hem, but I was in a hurry
today, and didn’t want to browse every cookbook I have at my fingertips to find
those recipes, so I surfed the internet and found this one that would do …
Crockpot Lasagna
Ingredients:
- 1 pound
ground Italian Sausage
- 1 pound
ground Beef
- 32 ounces
whole-milk Ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup
grated Parmesan cheese
- 48 ounces
of your favorite Spaghetti Sauce, homemade or store-bought
- 10-12 regular
ribbon-edged Lasagna Noodles, I buy a package and use as many as can fit
in my slow cooker which is usually about 12
- 2-3 cups
shredded Mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup
chopped Parsley
- Kosher
salt & ground Black Pepper
Instructions:
1.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add ground sausage
and beef; cook until browned and no pink remains. Drain fat and set aside.
The blister I got on my hand the other day, kept breaking open when stretched with garlic presser
Onions, garlic, sausage, and beef browning
2.
Meanwhile, stir together ricotta, parmesan and 1/2 tsp
salt & freshly ground pepper. Set aside.
3.
Layer the lasagna ingredients in your slow cooker in the
following order: sauce, lasagna noodles (break to cover as necessary), ricotta
cheese mixture, meat, mozzarella. Do three layers of each, reserving enough
sauce, noodles and mozzarella for one more layer at the very top.
4.
Cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 7-8 hours. Turn
off slow cooker and allow to "rest" for an hour (this will firm up
the lasagna so it's easier to slice, however you can eat it sooner if you're
too hungry to wait)! Sprinkle the top with chopped parsley and serve with
crusty garlic bread.
The lasagna bubbled to the very top of the crockpot - it didn't spillover; but it was very close ...
I let the lasagna sit for an hour to 'firm up' a bit, and noticed when the timer went off and I check it, that the lasagna has shrunk a bit while cooling. Not a lot - but definitely no longer at the very top of the crockpot.
I noticed when I spooned a serving of lasagna onto my plate, that the bottom layer had burned a little; I will cook it on LOW setting next time I make it. I actually don't mind blackened food as long as they are still edible - especially lasagna, so I don't mind eating tonight's serving, or ALL of the future meals ;-)
While
waiting for the lasagna to cook, I finished up the rest of the chair leg
booties I started yesterday. The others were getting thin on the bottom and
needed replaced, so I made these ones to match my flamingo chair pads:
Tomorrow
I am going to start table leg booties so the table leg bottoms don’t scratch
the wooden floor – I had felt tabs on the bottom, but they don’t stick very
well and leave sticky patches on the floor when they slide off; so they gotta
go. I cleaned up the sticky patches with goop, but I don’t want to keep having
to do that. And now that Bob is no longer here in physical sense, I am not
strong enough to tip the table on it’s side by myself, so getting the booties
made and slid on is going to take some inspiration ;-)
