Crock Pot Lasagna

A few years ago I discovered a crock pot lasagna that I loved. Did I save said recipe? Nope. But, I'm pretty sure I was able to successfully recreate the dish.

I love veggies, Scott not so much. To compromise I used (mostly) his meat of choice, and I added veggies that I love. With that being said, the next go-around with this dish I'll probably dice the veggies up even smaller (if he can't see them he won't know, right?), or I'll just play it totally safe and omit the veggies completely (why do guys not like mixing veggies into anything?!) -- Scott likes his lasagna veggie-free; I'm used to all vegetarian lasagna dishes.

Crock Pot Lasagna

Half a package lasagna noodles
1 jar tomato sauce (I prefer the Ragu light)
1 jar white sauce (is found near the spaghetti and tomato sauces)
1 pound ground turkey/beef (Scott is a big sausage fan, so I used 1/2 lb ground turkey and 1/2 pound Italian flavored turkey sausage, cases removed)
1 small onion, chopped (optional)
1 small-medium zucchini, chopped (optional)
1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (optional)
2 garlic cloves, pressed or chopped (optional)
2 tbsp Italian seasoning spice (optional)
1  15 oz. container cottage cheese (I used small curds, and reduced fat)
1 cup ricotta cheese (again, reduced fat)
3 cups Mozzarella cheese (2%)

No need to boil the noodles. They will soften in the crock pot.
Chop the veggies you wish to use, combine the veggies, garlic, and Italian seasoning spices in a bowl.
Keep the spinach in a separate bowl, it doesn't play well with others.
In a skillet brown your meat.
Add a light layer of red sauce to the bottom of the crock pot.
Place a layer of noodles down.
Continue to layer in this order:
red sauce, white sauce, mixed veggies, spinach, meat, sprinkle cottage and ricotta cheeses, Mozzarella.
Start each layer with lasagna noodles.
Repeat the layers until your crock pot is full (and it will be full).
Lastly, layer with noodles, a light layer of red sauce.
Top with Mozzarella.

Top photo: The lasagna before four hours of crock pot love.

Bottom photo: The lasagna ready for consumption. Hello cheesy goodness!

Set your crock pot on low, come back in 4-6 hours. Mozzarella should be a bit bubbly.
If you're in a rush cook on high for 3 hours.

I'm guessing this would happily feed a small army, or four to five very hungry guys. Around here we'll have left overs all week, and I'm all about the left overs. :)

For those of you planning to use spinach, or ever use spinach and find it a hassle when you have to thaw spinach and dry it out... Let me introduce you to one of my new favorite kitchen gadgets.

The above photo is a salad and berry spinner from Pampered Chef. All you do is throw in your wet/washed fruits and veggies, press the nifty little handle atop the contraption and waah-laah! Spun dried fruits and/or veggies. Talk about a time saver in the kitchen!!

Enjoy!