Slowcooker Spinach Lasagna

This photo was taken while it was still very hot. 
I ate some leftovers the next day and the juice had
absorbed and it had a nicer shape.  ; )  Not to mention,
delicious!!!

I've had a recipe for Slowcooker Lasagna for about 4 years.  I've made it a lot and we like it...sort of.  I've started really getting tired of it though.  I looked around online and ended up making this one myself, using ingredients I had on hand.  I love that it's a frugal, but tasty meal for my family and has way more flavor than my old recipe!

 

April's Slowcooker Spinach Lasagna

Yield: 6 servings

1 cup small curd cottage cheese

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

2 cups mozzarella cheese, divided

16 oz. frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed to remove liquid)

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 clove minced garlic

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup each fresh basil and oregano, chopped

Nonstick spray

4 cups spaghetti sauce (I used a bag of my freezer spaghetti sauce with meat)

Oven-ready lasagna noodles (about 1/2 a box; save the rest for next time)

In a small bowl, combine cottage cheese, milk and parmesan cheese.  Set aside.  In a skillet over medium-low heat, saute spinach, onion and garlic.  When onions are translucent, add fresh chopped herbs, salt and pepper.  Saute for 30 seconds, then remove from heat. 

Spray the slowcooker crock with non-stick spray.  Cover bottom of crock with 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce.  Layer lasagna noodles over sauce, breaking if necessary to fill in any gaps.  Cover noodles with 1/3 of cottage cheese mixture, 1/2 cup of mozzarella and 1/3 of spinach mixture.  Continue layering:  spaghetti sauce, noodles, cottage cheese, mozzarella and spinach until all ingredients are used. Top with last 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese.  Place cover on crock and cook on low 3-1/2 to 4 hours or until noodles are cooked through.  (Test by inserting a sharp knife into the center of the crock.) 

Notes: 

• I have a small slowcooker (though I can't remember the size) and this was about 4" thick!  If you have a larger slowcooker, you may need to adjust the cooking time. 
• You could easily make this a meatless meal by using veggie spaghetti sauce.  My frozen sauce had meat added already.
• I had everything to make this in my refrigerator, pantry and garden, so in essence it was free.  But I guesstimated the cost of the ingredients and came up with a total of $10.40 or $1.73 per serving.  Not bad!
• This was so good that I'm planning to make it again, but in oven pans and freeze it.  If Stouffer's can do it, so can I!

Buon appetito!

Click here for crafts, recipes and more!