Crockpot Lasagna

It sounds terrible, doesn’t it? Crockpot lasagna? Who would eat that? Maybe someone who thinks Chef Boyardee is a culinary genius, but not someone who has functioning tastebuds.

And if there’s anybody in your family from Italy, you’re probably planning to put a hit on me right now.*

But please trust me: this is a great recipe — especially the second day, after the flavors have melded together — and it’s very simple.

Honestly, I wish I made some yesterday so that we had it to eat for the next few days, while we’re running around like chickens with our heads cut off. (As a side note, I probably won’t have another post until next week for that very reason — we are so friggin’ busy.)

Crockpot Lasagna

1-1/2 lb. ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
Box of lasagna noodles (You won’t use the whole box) , raw & roughly broken into thirds (but they’ll shatter)
2 ½ jars of spaghetti sauce
1/3 cup water (if needed)
2 lbs ricotta (or less, I probably used 26 oz.)
2 cups (or more) shredded mozzarella

In a skillet, brown ground beef; remove from pan and set aside. Using about 1 ½ Tbs. of fat from beef, cook onion over medium to medium-high heat until translucent. Add garlic and continue cooking (don’t let it burn). Turn off heat and return beef to pan; stir to combine with onion and garlic.

In the bottom of a greased crockpot (6qt), place a thin layer of sauce . Cover with a layer of broken lasagna noodles. Top noodles with more sauce, some beef, ricotta, mozzarella and more sauce. Repeat until you have run out of beef and cheeses (2 to 3 more times). Add a final layer of noodles, top with plenty of sauce, stretching with water if needed. Cover and cook 5 hours on low, or 2-2 ½ hours on high.

Serves approximately 12. Individual portions reheat well in the microwave.

Grade: A

*Back off. I’m Italian. We can make these jokes.