I got two awesome kitchen appliances for Christmas this year that I’ve been so excited to try out. One of them is a crock pot, so I naturally began looking high and low for an inaugural recipe to make in it. 

I finally settled on this lasagna recipe, which turned out to be full of flavor and cooked to crock pot perfection in just 3 and a half hours. Consider me hooked.

1 lb lean ground beef
1 tsp onion powder
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 24oz jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup water
1 15oz container skim ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 egg
2 tbsp parsley
6 uncooked whole wheat lasagna noodles

instructions:

Cook the ground beef and onion powder in a large skillet over high heat.

Add in the minced garlic, and continue cooking until browned, then drain.

Add the spaghetti sauce and the water, and simmer for about 5 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, 2 tbsp Parmesan, egg, and parsley.

Stir until thoroughly combined.

Pour enough sauce in the crock pot to cover the bottom (use a crock pot liner if you can!)

Break the lasagna noodles in thirds, and use half to line the bottom of the pot until covered.

Cover with half of the ricotta cheese mixture.

Pour enough meat sauce to cover the cheese mixture, top with the remaining lasagna noodles, and the remaining half of the cheese mixture. Finally, cover with the remaining meat sauce.

Cover, and cook on low for about 3 and half hours, or until the noodles are soft. Top with the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan, and allow to melt.

Serve with a slightly toasted piece of ciabatta bread, and enjoy!

Adapted from this recipe

Oh, and for those of you wondering about my other kitchen appliance Christmas present…