Annie’s Easy Crock-Pot Lasagna

On a day that you are on the go, yet wish to have a hot and delicious supper waiting for you when you get home, crock pot lasagna is an excellent recipe to put into your rotation.

A few weeks ago I made it and posted about it on Facebook. If you do not follow me on Facebook, you can click here to check out my page.

A friend asked for my crock-pot lasagna recipe, so I told her I would make a post about it on Homestead Annie. I find it to be a quick “put together” meal that is tasty at the end of a long day.

Annie’s Easy Crock Pot Lasagna

• Grab a pound of ground beef. Throw it in a pan and brown it.
• Dice a medium sized onion. Add.
• Add 1 tsp. minced garlic.
• In separate bowl, mix together 1 14 oz. can of tomato paste with a can of water. Add 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1 tsp. onion salt,  1 tsp. Italian seasoning, and 1 tsp. raw (or white) sugar. If you do not have Italian seasoning, go ahead and live dangerously, adding 1 tsp. oregano instead. Give your mixture a taste. If you like it, great! Move on to the next step. If you feel it needs a little something extra, add a little of the above mentioned spices until you are satisfied.
• Add sauce mixture to ground beef mixture. Simmer 5 minutes.
• In separate bowl, mix 15 oz. of ricotta (or cottage cheese) with 1 ½ cups mozzarella, 2 tbsp. Parmesan, and 1 egg.
• Grab the crock-pot.
• Layer the following repeatedly in this order…meat sauce (enough to cover the bottom, lasagna noodles (I break mine to fit. If they are already broken, that’s just fine! No one will notice!) ½ cup of cheese mixture (I spread dollops around on top of the noodles,) follow with meat sauce, etc. repeat until you have used up all of your sauce and cheese mixture.
• Finish up your tower of yumminess with a layer of noodles.
• Look upon your creation with pride.
• Add two cups of water around the sides, being careful not to rinse the meat sauce or cheese off of the noodles.
• Set crock-pot to low for 5 hours. If you must leave it longer, add extra water. ¼ cup for every extra hour. I would not exceed 8 hours.
• 10 minutes before serving, turn crock-pot off. Sprinkle ½ cup of mozzarella cheese and 2 tbsp. of Parmesan cheese over top. Replace cover.
• Serve.

I realize it seems like several steps, but prep time really should only be about 10 minutes. I like to serve this with Annie’s Tossed Salad as a side.

Have a lovely weekend, my friends. Get out and live life to the fullest. In the wake of the tragedies of the past week, take with you this sage advice from Nelson Mandella. “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

~Annie