Easy Crock Pot Lasagna Recipe

I love lasagna! Love eating it that is, not so much making lasagna. For me, the worst part is dealing with the lasagna noodles. First you have to boil them, which seems to take forever. Then it's a matter of trying to tell if they are done or not. After draining them, I quickly grab one and throw it in my lasagna pan and I end up burning my fingers. They're hot! But I'm in a hurry. I still have to layer everything and then cook it in the oven which seems to take forever as well.

I am glad to say I have found a way to avoid all of this hassle - simply make crock pot lasagna! It's very easy and doesn't require trying to deal with wet, hot noodles.Here is an easy recipe for making lasagna in your slow cooker.

 To make this easy lasagna recipe in your slow cooker, you will need the following ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1/2 c. chopped onion
• 1 t. minced garlic
• 16 oz. can tomato sauce
• 6 oz. can tomato paste
• 4 oz. can sliced, drained mushrooms (I always add more because I love mushrooms)
• 1 t. salt
• 1 t. dried oregano
• 8 oz. package uncooked lasagna noodles (or nine noodles)
• 2 c. shredded mozzerella cheese
• 12 oz. container cottage cheese
• 1/2 c. grated Paremsan cheese
• 1 c. water

The first thing you'll want to do is place the hamburger along with the chopped onions and garlic into a skillet and brown the hamburger. After draining the grease from the hamburger, put it into a large bowl and add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, mushrooms, salt and oregano. Mix this well then spread about a quarter of the hamburger-sauce mixture onto the bottom of your slow cooker.

After spreading the meat mixture on the bottom of your crock pot, you'll want to add your first layer of lasagna noodles. Since crock pots normally come in odd oval shapes, this can be a little tricky. You'll need to break the noodles and fit them as best you can over the meat mixture in your crock pot. Use three noodles for each layer.

You'll now want to combine your three cheeses. The cheese mixture consists of 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, a 12 oz. container of cottage cheese and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese. Stir the cheese together until they are thoroughly mixed.

Next, spoon about one third of the cheese mixture over the noodles that are already in the crock pt.

After putting the cheese on top of the noodles, you'll want to go back to your meat mixture and spoon some of it over your cheese mixture. After this, place another layer of noodles (three noodles broken up), another layer of cheese then meat again. Finally, add another layer of noodles, top that with cheese and top that with the remaining meat mixture.

Cover your crock pot and cook on the low setting for about 4-5 hours. I would not recommend the high setting for this recipe.

After the lasagna is cooked, you'll want to let it sit for about ten minutes before cutting it into pieces. Again, since the crock pot is odd shaped, this can be a little tricky. I cut two pieces lengthwise first then cut across four or five times. This makes between 8-10 pieces of lasagna. You can cut accordingly to how big of lasagna pieces you want to have.

There you have it! Crock pot lasagna - an easy recipe for making lasagna in your slow cooker. Now just serve with a nice green salad and some bread sticks or garlic toast and you have made the perfect dinner! Wasn't that so much easier then messing with those hot, wet noodles!