Slow Cooker Lasagna!
Okay, so, I currently am without a working oven. I've had to improvise on meals. I am *new* to the art of slow cookers/ Crockpots. *gasp!* I know, I know. Let's not talk about that though, okay? mmkay. Well, I've been wanting a cheesy pasta dish, and as much as I love to eat a lasagna, I highly dislike cooking one. So.....imagine my surprise when I found out you can make one in a crockpot! WITHOUT COOKING THE NOODLES. WIN! Yes, that was the most exciting part.
However, this looked good on paper, but, how would it actually turn out? To say I was worried was a severe understatement. I stared at my ingredients for a good 30 minutes before I did anything at all (in hindsight, that was probably a really bad idea..having the ingredients out of the refrigerator that long, lol.)
So. How did it turn out? I'll get there, I'll get there. Here's a brief recipe and some tweaks I wish I had done (again, hindsight)
1 box uncooked lasagna
2 jars of sauce (I used 16 oz, wish I had used bigger jars though, I'll write why in a minute)
Some water (I know, scientific, and very specific. I literally just put water in the sauce jars, mixed it up a little and added it to my bowl of sauce.
1-2 eggs
Ricotta cheese (I used a 2 lb container)
Shredded mozzarella cheese (I'd say about 2 cups or so)
Recipe time!
1) I put my 2 jars of sauce in a bowl and added the splash of water. Then I mixed together my ricotta, eggs, and a sprinkle of shredded cheese.
2) I put sauce on the bottom of my slow cooker (like you would do when making it in the oven) and then added some noodles. Now, you will have to break them and do the best you can at layering. I had a hard time with this, not because it was actually hard, but because I'm OCD about my lasagna layers being PERFECT and even, lol.
3) I then added the cheese mixture on top of that, and then covered it with sauce. Repeat these steps until you run out ingredients. (see, this is easy as pie!)
4) I cooked mine on my slow cookers setting "low" with 8 hours highlighted. The recipes I looked up had said to cook on low for 4 - 6 hours, but my slow cooker only had high as the setting for 4 6 hours.
SO, this is where the issue came in. I turned it on at 11am, thinking it was going to take 4-6 hours. By 3pm, there was an issue. My noodles had overcooked in 4 hours! So I quickly threw about a cup of shredded cheese on top and let it melt, then I shut my slow cooker off, let stand for a few minutes (see, very technical, I am) and then I cut it. I was worried. Scared, even, to taste this dish. I could tell the noodles had overcooked.
And I tasted it. I was disappointed. Not in the dish, per se, but because I had inadvertently (obviously, lol) overcooked the noodles! I ate it though. My son ate it as well. It wasn't *bad* it was just overcooked. The noodles overcooked and the sauce (both jars plus water) were just about GONE, as in, the noodles sucked it all up. So, as my mom said to me you live and you learn. The next time I make this dish there will be some tweaks, but that's how it's supposed to be, right?!
Tips:
1) Everything I read says do *not* use oven ready noodles (I imagine they would be even mushier than my regular noodles came out)
2) Don't cook this on high. For any amount of time, lol. I think that would be baddddd!
3) LOTS OF SAUCE! :)
The final product!
That's it. That's my post.
Overall, I'm going to give this a 6/10 (because of overcooked noodles, and sauce issue, both my fault) but I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for an easy and convenient dinner!
**EDIT** I forgot to mention that most people put meat in their lasagna, but I have a weird thing about meat being in my pasta dishes, so I don't do it, personally. The meat is the only thing you have to precook obviously, so, if you like meat in your dish add that to step number 1! :)
However, this looked good on paper, but, how would it actually turn out? To say I was worried was a severe understatement. I stared at my ingredients for a good 30 minutes before I did anything at all (in hindsight, that was probably a really bad idea..having the ingredients out of the refrigerator that long, lol.)
So. How did it turn out? I'll get there, I'll get there. Here's a brief recipe and some tweaks I wish I had done (again, hindsight)
1 box uncooked lasagna
2 jars of sauce (I used 16 oz, wish I had used bigger jars though, I'll write why in a minute)
Some water (I know, scientific, and very specific. I literally just put water in the sauce jars, mixed it up a little and added it to my bowl of sauce.
1-2 eggs
Ricotta cheese (I used a 2 lb container)
Shredded mozzarella cheese (I'd say about 2 cups or so)
Recipe time!
1) I put my 2 jars of sauce in a bowl and added the splash of water. Then I mixed together my ricotta, eggs, and a sprinkle of shredded cheese.
2) I put sauce on the bottom of my slow cooker (like you would do when making it in the oven) and then added some noodles. Now, you will have to break them and do the best you can at layering. I had a hard time with this, not because it was actually hard, but because I'm OCD about my lasagna layers being PERFECT and even, lol.
3) I then added the cheese mixture on top of that, and then covered it with sauce. Repeat these steps until you run out ingredients. (see, this is easy as pie!)
4) I cooked mine on my slow cookers setting "low" with 8 hours highlighted. The recipes I looked up had said to cook on low for 4 - 6 hours, but my slow cooker only had high as the setting for 4 6 hours.
SO, this is where the issue came in. I turned it on at 11am, thinking it was going to take 4-6 hours. By 3pm, there was an issue. My noodles had overcooked in 4 hours! So I quickly threw about a cup of shredded cheese on top and let it melt, then I shut my slow cooker off, let stand for a few minutes (see, very technical, I am) and then I cut it. I was worried. Scared, even, to taste this dish. I could tell the noodles had overcooked.
And I tasted it. I was disappointed. Not in the dish, per se, but because I had inadvertently (obviously, lol) overcooked the noodles! I ate it though. My son ate it as well. It wasn't *bad* it was just overcooked. The noodles overcooked and the sauce (both jars plus water) were just about GONE, as in, the noodles sucked it all up. So, as my mom said to me you live and you learn. The next time I make this dish there will be some tweaks, but that's how it's supposed to be, right?!
Tips:
1) Everything I read says do *not* use oven ready noodles (I imagine they would be even mushier than my regular noodles came out)
2) Don't cook this on high. For any amount of time, lol. I think that would be baddddd!
3) LOTS OF SAUCE! :)
That's it. That's my post.
Overall, I'm going to give this a 6/10 (because of overcooked noodles, and sauce issue, both my fault) but I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for an easy and convenient dinner!
**EDIT** I forgot to mention that most people put meat in their lasagna, but I have a weird thing about meat being in my pasta dishes, so I don't do it, personally. The meat is the only thing you have to precook obviously, so, if you like meat in your dish add that to step number 1! :)
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