We got a new TV!! Isn't that SO exciting for all of you?! It took 3 years worth of J saving up Best Buy gift cards, but we finally got the new TV he's always wanted. So what the hell does a new TV have to do with lasagna? Well, the new TV wasn't going to install itself & nobody trusted me to be the 2nd set of hands to un-mount our old TV & mount this new sucker (because everyone is smart) , so we decided to call our trusty friend Dan for the job. J, being the kind-hearted friend he is, didn't want to just use Dan for his muscles, so instead we lured him with a home-cooked meal provided by moi. Now, I had just come off a 17-days-in-a-row-hell at work & wasn't up to being super fancy, so crock pot it is! A while back, I made a lasagna in my crock pot & it was SO easy & delicious. I figured this would be the perfect dinner...plus, I knew Dan loved lasagna since he recently attempted to make one with 6 different kinds of noodles (yes ladies, he IS single). I logged on here to look for the recipe & couldn't find it in my recipe box. Hmm, odd. So, I went to Pinterest thinking I for sure saved the original recipe there. Wrong. Well, shit. I started looking around on Pinterest thinking if I saw the original photo I might recognize which recipe I made. Nope. OK then, let's start over. I went to one of my staple recipe sites, Six Sister's Stuff & of course they had a version of the recipe. I have to say, I REALLY enjoyed it! I always read the comments on recipes (I hope people don't come to my blog looking for comments because people rarely comment here...*ahem*) & some people said they felt the recipe was a bit bland. SO, with that knowledge, I was able to modify my ingredients & lacking flavor IT DID NOT. It didn't take much prep time at ALL which is always a bonus for me. I also realize I've posted 3 different lasagna recipes in the last month or so...I may have a problem.
Serves: 6-8
Cook Time: 4.5-6 hours
How difficult was this for me? Psh, easy!
1 lb. lean ground turkey (I used Jenny-O Italian Seasoned)
1 jar 24 oz. spaghetti sauce (I recommend using something with seasoning, I used garlic)
1 cup water
1 pkg Italian Cheese (or mozzarella)
1 (15oz) container of Ricotta cheese
1 (15oz) container of Ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, separated
1 egg
2 tbsp. parsley (I forgot this part)
6 regular lasagna noodles, uncooked
Brown meat in large skillet. Drain.
Stir in spaghetti sauce & cup of water
In a separate bowl, combine egg, 1.5 cups of Italian cheeses, ricotta, 2 tsbp parm, & parsley.
Spoon 1 cup of meet sauce into bottom of slow cooker. I left my meat a tad chunkier.
Place 3 uncooked noodles on top of sauce. I used 2 full noodles, then broke up the 3rd.
Spread half of the cheese mixture on top of noodles. I used a spatula & it spread pretty easily.
Cover with 2 cups of meat sauce. Top with remaining noodles, cheese mixture & meat sauce
Sprinkle with remaining cheeses (parm included) & cover with lid. Cook on low for at least 4-5 hours.
Yum.
I tried this recipe out last night and it turned out great! I ended up using ground beef instead of ground turkey because we tend to prefer that around my household. Since I couldn't find the parsley to use in the cheese mixture, I threw in some Italian seasoning and it worked out great; I also threw some in with the ground beef when I was browning it. I used a roasted garlic spaghetti sauce with this recipe and it tasted great; I may try using different flavors in the future to change things up a little (I saw a bacon and provolone flavor that I may try next time). When I was shopping for lasagna noodles I noticed that there was "oven ready" noodles and normal noodles; from what I could tell the normal ones are thicker and need to be boiled before using them in a lasagna, so I used the "oven ready" variety. I'm not sure if that makes much of a difference (which type did you use, Rachel?).
ReplyDeleteI ended up having some of the leftovers for lunch today and it turns out this recipe reheats great! I will definitely be adding this recipe into our regular rotation.
So so so glad you enjoyed it! Next we make it, I'm going to sub the ground turkey for the real stuff!!
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