{Recipe} Crockpot Lasagna Casserole Recipe

Have you guys ever heard something that  just seemed completely impossible and almost too good to be true? Well, that's how I felt about throwing DRY , UNCOOKED noodles into a slow cooker. How does it cook all the way? How would I know it's done without opening the lid and interrupting vital "cook time"? How? What? Really, are you sure?? 

But I'm here to tell you that it's all true, people. It works! And it's amazing. It's about to change our lives. 

So here we go! 

We start with making our different layers. This is definitely the most labor intensive part - but when you're slow cooking, prep is always the hard part. That, and waiting of course... Especially if you're hungry! 

One mistake I made was I let it get too watery. Didn't drain the tomatoes enough. Or the veggies. Or the steamed spinach. But we like our food saucy and juicy so it was fine by us!

Layer em one at a time. Then repeat, repeat, repeat. EVEN THE DRY NOODLES. I broke up some of the noodles so that it'd fit my little bitty crock pot. It's so simple that it still seems too good to be true. :)

Your last two layers should be the meat sauce and a generous amount of cheese. I chose pepper jack over mozerella because it was cheaper. I couldn't taste the difference, to be honest!

2-3 hours on high or 4-6 hours on low should do it. We did the "high" option because Eugene was hungry! Ooh look at that cheese. 

Remember what I said about letting it get too watery? This is what happened. And this is when we decided to let it be a casserole. And whatayaknow - the pasta noodles were completely cooked! AMAZE. 

Eugene finished our 12-serving lasagna casserole in 2 days. Usually I would say "...so that means something!!" but my husband has hard time with his portion control, so..... yeah. :)

Try it and be amazed!! 

CROCKPOT LASAGNA CASSEROLE RECIPE 

Adapted from Weelicious

• Ingredients
• 2 tablespoons oil, divided
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 small green bell pepper
• 1 8-oz pack of mushrooms, sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups of spinach, steamed and squeezed

• 2 pounds dark meat ground turkey or beef 
• 2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 tablespoon dried italian herbs
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3 cups low-fat cottage cheese
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 16 ounces grated mozzarella cheese, about 4-5 cups
• 1 pound dried lasagna noodles, uncooked 
• *(I ended up only using half a pound of noodles)

• 
  
• Instructions
• Add oil to a pot over high-heat and add garlic and onions. Cook ground meat in the pot with the garlic and onions until cooked through.  Drain tomatoes and dice into bite sized pieces, add to pot and allow it to come to a boil. Sauté bell pepper and mushrooms and add to the meat sauce. Finally, add salt and Italian herbs. Set aside. 

Whisk eggs in a medium bowl. Add parmasean cheese and cottage cheese until thoroughly mixed.  Set aside. 

Blanch or steam fresh spinach in hot water. Drain water and squeeze any water out of the spinach completely. Set aside in small plate/bowl. 

In the crock pot, lay a thin layer of meat sauce, a single layer of dry lasagna noodles, cottage cheese mixture, spinach, mozerella cheese. Repeat until you run out of ingredients or until your crockpot reaches the 3/4 mark. Layer meat sauce and moz cheese on top. 

Cook for 2-3 hours on high, 4-6 hours on low. Check to make sure noodles are cooked through prior to serving. 

If you want the lasagna to have more shape - turn the crock pot off and let it sit for 30 minutes prior to serving. 

Bon appetite! 

XOXO

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