Most people probably don't think of lasagna as "easy", or a meal they'd make on a weeknight. With this recipe, though, you can have lasagna whenever you want! As usual, I've added a bunch of extra veggies to increase the nutritional value and make it more of a complete meal (there are 3 1/2 cups of veggies, not including the sauce!). You can use the veggies my recipe calls for, or whatever veggies you want. Feel free to substitute a different kind of meat (Italian sausage would be yummy, but any kind of ground meat will work well), or leave the meat out to make it vegetarian. You can also make this recipe in the oven, if you're like me and take too long running errands, so by the time you start assembling your lasagna it's too late to do it in the CrockPot... just assemble it in a 9x13" pan instead and bake at 350 for an hour (40 minutes covered, then sprinkle cheese on top and bake another 20 minutes).
Meat & Veggie CrockPot Lasagna
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced bell pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced (I use a garlic press)
1/2 cup celery
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup shredded zucchini
1 cup frozen chopped spinach
3 cups homemade spaghetti sauce (or a 24 oz jar)
1/2 cup water
15 oz ricotta cheese (sometimes if I don't have this, I will put cottage cheese in the food processor and use that instead)
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp Italian seasoning
lasagna noodles (I used whole wheat no-boil noodles, and I used 12 for my 9x13" pan)
In a large frying pan, brown your ground beef. Add onions, peppers, and celery. Drain the excess fat, then add garlic, carrots, zucchini, spinach, spaghetti sauce, and water, and simmer.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix ricotta cheese, egg, 1 1/2 cups of the mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese, and the Italian seasoning.
Spoon about 1 cup of the meat-sauce mixture into the bottom of your large (4-6 qt) CrockPot. Layer your uncooked noodles over the sauce, breaking them to fit the pan as needed. Spoon on half of the cheese mixture and spread evenly. Spread a layer of sauce over the cheese, then top with another layer of noodles. Repeat these layers one more time, ending with a layer of noodles covered with sauce. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours, until the noodles are tender.
Once the noodles are cooked, sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella and 1/4 cup of parmesan over the top and put the lid back so that the cheese can melt. Serve with Italian bread, if desired.
