My mother, living in Hawaii, likes to use her slow cooker a lot to avoid heating up her condo. Because I was doing a lot of the cooking while we were visiting, I adopted her cooking habits. I came upon this recipe for slow cooker lasagna from Fix it and Forget it Big Cookbook, which is fast becoming my new go to book for quick and cheap dinners. It made an absolutely HUGE amount that we ate for a few days and then threw out, I'm sure you could halve it.
Convenient Slow Cooker Lasagna adapted from Fix it and Forget it Big Cookbook
Serves: 6-8
Cooking time: 4-6 hours on LOW
Use a 6 quart slow cooker
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
2 29oz. cans tomato sauce
1 onion, chopped
10 oz. elbow macaroni
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
3/4 cups water
1. Spray the interior of the cooker with nonstick cooking spray or line with a slow cooker bag.
2. Brown the ground beef and the onion in a nonstick skillet. Drain off the drippings.
3. Stir in the tomato sauce. Mix well.
4. Spread one-fourth of the meat sauce on the bottom of the slow cooker.
5. Arrange one-third of the noodles over the sauce.
6. Combine the cheeses in a bowl. Spoon one-third of cheeses over the noodles.
7. Repeat these layers twice.
8. Top with remaining sauce.
9. Add water.
10. Cover and cook on LOW 4-6 hours.
Papaya and Cottage Cheese Salad
My mother made this simple salad of a halved papaya filled with cottage cheese to accompany the lasagna. At first I wasn't sure about it but the combination of the sweet/salty, lumpy/creamy consistencies really works. Of course it helps being able to find papayas this sweet and ripe at the local farmers market.
