(Originally posted on www.WGLR.com on 11-18-13)

This week’s recipe is a new one I tried over the weekend, and WOW! It’s DELICIOUS!! Definitely going to be made again in our house! It’s Crock Pot Lasagna Soup, and you will love it. Lasagna isn’t an ideal weeknight meal because of prep and bake time. Even prepping it ahead of time doesn’t always help because you need 45 minutes to an hour to bake it, which isn’t always possible with busy schedules. Here is the solution! It’s like lasagna in a bowl! Top it with some fresh mozzarella cheese, and you have the perfect meal for your family on a chilly evening.

Crock Pot Lasagna Soup

• 1- 20oz can petite diced tomatoes
• 6 oz tomato paste
• 1 lb ground beef (you can brown it first or just put it in the crock…depends on if you want to drain fat off the meat)
• 3 cups beef broth
• 1 cup V8 vegetable juice
• 4-5 cloves minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp dried parsley
• 1 Tbsp dried basil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 cups uncooked small shell pasta
• 1 cup water
• shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)

Combine together diced tomatoes and tomato paste in the crock pot. Add in beef, broth, V8, garlic, parsley, basil, onion, salt & pepper. Cook on low for 7-8 hours or high for 4-6. After that cooking time, add in the uncooked pasta and cup of water, and cook for an additional 30 minutes. When serving, you can top with shredded mozzarella.  Serves 6-8.

Crock Pot Lasagna

The high temp today is only supposed to be in the upper 20's. Brrrr. I don't know about you, but once it gets cold, I enjoy hot comfort meals. We all had one of those last week with Thanksgiving, but lasagna is one of my all time favorite meals. It was almost always what I asked my mom to make me for my birthday dinner when I was a kid. So I thought I would try this recipe I have seen floating around, Crock Pot Lasagna! Just like regular lasagna, you can add variations as you please (grond beed instead of italian sausage, ricotta instead of cottage cheese, throw in some spinach, etc), but here is the basic recipe. Also, the original recipe says to cook on high for 4 hours, but I have a slow cooker that runs hot, so it was too much. Ended up with some burnt edges. I think 2 hours on high and maybe 1 on low would have been better for my crock. I think this would work well on low for 4-6 hours or so too. You know your own crock pot best!

Crock Pot Lasagna

1 box uncooked lasagna noodles (NOT the "oven ready" kind)

1 lb italian sausage

1 large jar red pasta sauce (I used a 45 oz jar)

2 cups cottage cheese

4 cups (1lb) shredded mozzarella cheese

Italian seasoning blend to taste

Brown and drain the italian sausage in a skillet, and add pasta sauce. In a bowl, mix together the cottage cheese, 3 cups of the shredded mozzarella (reserve 1 cup) and italian seasoning blend (as much as you prefer).

Layer ingredients in the slow cooker just like you would a redular lasagna. I used my 6 qt oblong slow cooker. Start with a layer of the meat sauce, then add the lasagna noodles (break them to make them fit better), then a layer of the cheese mixture, noodles, sauce, etc. Top the last layer with sauce.

Cook for up to 4 hours on high, but keep an eye on it. 3 could be plenty.

5 minutes before serving, sprinkle on the remaining 1 cup of shredded mozzarella to let it melt on top.