Dinner #1 - Crock Pot Lasagna

I got this recipe from a Kraft Food & Family magazine awhile back. Since then I have made it a few times, but tonight was my favorite because I didn't really follow the recipe exactly. Below is the recipe as it was in the magazine:

Brown ground beef (1 lb) in large skillet; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce (1 jar/26 oz) and water (1 c).

In separate bowl, mix ricotta cheese (1 container/15 oz), shredded mozzarella (1 1/2 c), grated parmesan cheese (2 Tbsp), one egg, and fresh chopped parsley (2 Tbsp).

Spoon 1 cup of the meat sauce into your crock pot; top with layers of noodles (about 6 total in the whole recipe...not cooked...broken to fit); top with half of cheese mixture. Cover with 2 cups of the meat sauce, more noodles/noodle pieces, and remaining cheese mixture. Pour leftover meat sauce on top.

Cover with lid and cook for 4-6 hours on low, or until liquid is absorbed.

So that was the basic recipe- however I decided to make it today and did not have ricotta cheese on hand. No big deal...I don't really like cheese a ton anyway! I made my meat sauce as it says above, however the "cheese" mixture was this: about 1/2 a bag of shredded mozzarella, a little shredded parmesan cheese, sprinkle of dried parsley, a small can of sliced olives, 1/2 a package of frozen spinach (thawed of course), a few slices of pepperoni I chopped up, and an egg.

I never measure how many noodles I put in...the original recipe says 6 but I think it depends on the size of your crock pot i.e. how many noodles it takes to make a layer so you can't really see the layer underneath...that is what I go by! (Plus I like it heavy on the noodles as that is my favorite part of lasagna!)

Then I layered as stated above and topped with a handful of shredded mozzarella, let it cook 4 hours on low, and voila! It was definitely my favorite because it didn't seem overly cheesy. And aside from getting a pan dirty to brown the beef and a bowl dirty to make the cheese mixture, it was so easy to prepare and clean up.

We had my parents over for dinner tonight and we all loved it- we had bread and a green salad and orange jello with mandarin oranges too. It was a very yummy and easy meal- I love that I don't have to cook the noodles before hand!

Try it out! :)