My Mom taught me how to make lasagna when I was about 16. Since then I've made lasagna many differn't ways and people keep asking me for a great lasagna for the crock pot.
Lasagna has to have the right ingredients if your going to end up with a taste that everyone is going to love. I usually make my own sauce but here were going to go with a Prego brand meat sauce which comes in a jar at your local supermarket. If you can't get Prego then buy a good quality meat sauce in a jar already made and almost any brand will work. You get what you pay for so your going to want a good quality sauce.
Lasagna has to have Ricotta Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese, Italian Sausage, Green Bell Peppers, Ground Beef, and Mushrooms to be good. Sure you can make it some other way but you won't have the flavor that you'll have if you go with the right ingredients.
Ingredients For Your Crock Pot Lasagna
1. A Large Box Lasagna Noodles.
2. A Large Carton Of Fresh Button Mushrooms.
3. Two Large Green Bell Peppers.
4. One Pound Carton Ricotta Cheese.
5. One Pound Shredded Mozzarella Cheese.
6. Olive Oil To Saute Your Veggies In.
7. Good Quality Vegetable Cooking Spray.
One Tablespoon Fresh Minced Garlic.
One Large Jar Prego Sauce With Meat.
To start with pour about two tablespoons of olive oil out into a large skillet and then dice your button mushrooms and green bell peppers up and saute them in the olive oil. You of course have to take the seeds out of your bell peppers and dice your bell peppers up. Once the peppers and mushrooms are cooked mix them with the Prego Meat Sauce.
Before you put anything into your crock pot spray the inside of it well with the vegetable cooking spray.
In a bowl combine your Ricotta Cheese and the shredded mozzarella cheese. You want it to be well mixed together.
You'll want a six quart crock pot or slow cooker to make this crock pot lasagna in. And no you do not need to cook your lasagna noodles ahead of time. You can use regular lasagna noodles and it will work perfect as the liquid and steam will cook the noodles while the crock pot lasagna is cooking. Be sure to spray the inside of the crock pot with vegetable cooking spray before you put anything in it.
In layer one your going to want to put a layer of the meat sauce with the vegetables in it. Make your layer about one inch thick.
In layer two put a layer of the lasagna noodles. You'll have to break part of the noodles to get them to fit in a layer in the crock pot.
In layer three you want to put a layer of the mixed ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese. And yes use ricotta cheese. Cottage cheese goes on salads. Not in lasagna.
Repeat your layers finishing up with a layer of cheese on top. Put the lid on your crock pot and cook for six hours on high. Guess what after six hours you'll have the most delicious crock pot lasagna you'll ever have in your life.
And your lasagna noodles will be perfectly cooked. No one makes a better crock pot lasagna than I do and if you follow along with the recipe you can to.