Crock Pot Lasagna - easy and delish!

I love when my kids are eager to help me in the kitchen. My 9-year-old saw me pulling out ingredients to and jumped in to assist. His help was welcome since I was making a lasagna, which would need lots of mixing and layers.

As I've said before, I'm not ashamed to take shortcuts when I cook. I also learned from my mom to "doctor" things up, as she would say. So, I know there are simple things to add to make the more convenient stuff taste more homemade. I used sauce in a jar, but added a little garlic (the minced stuff in a jar with olive oil.) and some Italian seasoning.

Lasagna is one of those dishes that leaves much room for experimentation. So, I'll fill you in on how I made this batch. Leave out the stuff you don't like, substitute with what you do and make it your own.

I really don't make lasagna often because not too many of the people in my house like it. But, I do, so I figured even if only hubby and I eat it, it's worth it. And it was my first time this fall using my crock pot. I'd never done one in the crock pot before. I think that's another thing that keeps me from making it much is all the work involved in boiling the noodles.

Another shortcut to this dish is that I had cooked a couple pounds of ground Italian Johnsonville sausage for French bread pizzas a couple weeks ago. I put the leftover sausage in the freezer and pulled it out to use in the lasagna rather than taking the time to brown a pan of beef.

This was so easy!!!! I got the inspiration from watching a video of the Crockin' Girls online making a crock pot version of lasagna. I could not believe how easy it was. I will never boil lasagna noodles again!

1 1/2 jars pasta sauce
4 cups fresh spinach
15 oz. container Ricotta cheese
8 oz. bag Lasagna shredded blend (Romano, Mozzarella, Parmesan, Provolone)
3 tsp. grated Parmesan
1 tsp. minced garlic in olive oil (add to sauce)
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
8 oz. lasagna noodles
1 lb. browned Italian sausage
1 small can mushrooms

In a small bowl, blend the three cheeses and a teaspoon of Italian seasoning. Reserve about 1/2 cup of shredded cheese for top. Then start layering.

Here's how I did my layering:

sauce
spinach
noodles
sauce
Italian sausage
mushrooms
cheese blend
spinach
noodles
sauce
sausage
mushrooms
cheese blend
spinach
noodles
sauce
Extra cheese
Italian seasoning

I put mine in the crock pot on high for about 2 hours.


Comments

  1. Wow cooking it in a crock pot is a great idea. I use the heck out of mine but never thought of this. I am a huge lasagna fan but sadly nobody else in my family is.

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  2. I haven't done a lasagna in the crock pot yet, I better, this looks awesome. Thanks for sharing this at my Sunday Dinner Link Party! Hope to see you next week.

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