So a couple of weeks ago I picked up a 3.5 quart crockpot. I actually made the bell peppers and tomatoes in this, but the celebration of getting it was this lasagna (which I made last Sunday).
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/slow-cooker-spinach-and-ricotta-lasagna-with-romaine-salad-00000000052378/index.html
The recipe for just lasagna uses the first six ingredients. My grocery only had creamed frozen spinach, so I used that and hoped it wouldn't matter too much (I mean, really, you're adding it to lots of cheese, so the cream part shouldn't make a difference). I also selected a garlic and basil flavored marinara sauce.
So making this was straightforward. Mixed the cheese and spinach, and the pasta sauce and water in different bowls. Added sauce, then noodles, then sauce, then spinach, then mozzarella and repeated. The recipe is meant for a slightly larger crockpot, but with enough breaking the noodles formed a single layer fairly well. The spinach mixture was a bit difficult to spread which resulted in the layers of sauce mixing. This was annoying, but not really a problem. When I got to adding the last noodles, mozzarella, Parmesan and marinara sauce, it seemed like I didn't have enough sauce left. I worried a bit that I had been using too much, but eventually convinced myself that I hadn't. But still, the noodles were not completely covered. As they cook in the pot, I mixed a bit of extra water in to make sure that they would be fine. I then sprinkled over the last of the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.
This got left alone on low for 4 hours. I then shared it for dinner with a friend. It was very good. It was a bit difficult to get out of the crockpot. After I removed the first piece, cutting more seemed to push some of the filling out into the gap. However, this simply meant that we ate a bit more filling. It was so good that we both had two pieces.
After this I took advantage of the removable crock, and just stuck the whole thing in the fridge. I meant to portion it out later, but ended up just taking pieces from the crock as I went. It was much easier to cut pieces out when it had cooled. It seemed pretty uniform in height, so it might be that I had imagined it was spilling filling when I was cutting it hot. I was also happy to put off some of the dishes to a day when I wasn't really cooking.
Lasagna is great because it reheats beautifully. It was also good cold on the day that I brought it in for lunch and couldn't get to a microwave. It was also nice because I know that spinach is good for me, and it was cooked into tasty cheese.
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/slow-cooker-spinach-and-ricotta-lasagna-with-romaine-salad-00000000052378/index.html
The recipe for just lasagna uses the first six ingredients. My grocery only had creamed frozen spinach, so I used that and hoped it wouldn't matter too much (I mean, really, you're adding it to lots of cheese, so the cream part shouldn't make a difference). I also selected a garlic and basil flavored marinara sauce.
So making this was straightforward. Mixed the cheese and spinach, and the pasta sauce and water in different bowls. Added sauce, then noodles, then sauce, then spinach, then mozzarella and repeated. The recipe is meant for a slightly larger crockpot, but with enough breaking the noodles formed a single layer fairly well. The spinach mixture was a bit difficult to spread which resulted in the layers of sauce mixing. This was annoying, but not really a problem. When I got to adding the last noodles, mozzarella, Parmesan and marinara sauce, it seemed like I didn't have enough sauce left. I worried a bit that I had been using too much, but eventually convinced myself that I hadn't. But still, the noodles were not completely covered. As they cook in the pot, I mixed a bit of extra water in to make sure that they would be fine. I then sprinkled over the last of the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses.
This got left alone on low for 4 hours. I then shared it for dinner with a friend. It was very good. It was a bit difficult to get out of the crockpot. After I removed the first piece, cutting more seemed to push some of the filling out into the gap. However, this simply meant that we ate a bit more filling. It was so good that we both had two pieces.
After this I took advantage of the removable crock, and just stuck the whole thing in the fridge. I meant to portion it out later, but ended up just taking pieces from the crock as I went. It was much easier to cut pieces out when it had cooled. It seemed pretty uniform in height, so it might be that I had imagined it was spilling filling when I was cutting it hot. I was also happy to put off some of the dishes to a day when I wasn't really cooking.
Lasagna is great because it reheats beautifully. It was also good cold on the day that I brought it in for lunch and couldn't get to a microwave. It was also nice because I know that spinach is good for me, and it was cooked into tasty cheese.
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