SLOW COOKER LASAGNA RICOTTA RECIPES

Steps:

• Cook sausage and onion in 10-inch skillet over medium heat 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sausage is no longer pink; drain. Stir in tomato sauce, basil and salt.
• Mix 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese and the ricotta and Parmesan cheeses. (Refrigerate remaining mozzarella cheese while lasagna cooks.)
• Spoon one-fourth of the sausage mixture into 6-quart slow cooker; top with 5 noodles, broken into pieces to fit. Spread with half of the cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture. Top with 5 noodles, remaining cheese mixture and one-fourth of the sausage mixture. Top with remaining 5 noodles and remaining sausage mixture.
• Cover and cook on Low heat setting 4 to 6 hours or until noodles are tender.
• Sprinkle top of lasagna with remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Cover and let stand about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Cut into pieces.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, stir together the ricotta, spinach, Parmesan, basil, garlic, oregano, onion powder, ¼ teaspoon salt and a generous amount of black pepper.
• Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 6- to 7-quart slow cooker with olive oil. Ladle about 1 cup of the marinara sauce in the bottom of the slow cooker, and spread it evenly.
• Make two layers: Lay 3 lasagna noodles on top of the sauce, breaking the noodles to make a roughly even layer. (This doesn’t need to be perfect; it’s fine if the noodles overlap slightly, and if there are small spots the noodles don’t cover.) Ladle about ¾ cup of sauce on top of the noodles and spread evenly. Evenly dollop about half of the ricotta mixture over the sauce, and use the back of a fork to press it into a roughly even layer. Sprinkle about a third of the shredded mozzarella over the ricotta. Repeat to make one more layer, using three noodles, the ¾ cup sauce, the remaining half of the ricotta mixture, then about half of the remaining mozzarella.
• To finish, lay down the remaining 3 lasagna noodles and spread with the remaining sauce. (Reserve the remaining mozzarella.) Cover and cook on low until the internal temperature in the center is at least 140 degrees and the noodles are tender, 3 hours 30 minutes to 4 hours.
• Turn off the slow cooker and sprinkle the top of the lasagna with the remaining mozzarella. Remove the crock from the base that contains the heating element and let the lasagna rest with the lid on for 20 to 30 minutes, otherwise it will fall apart when you try to slice it. Sprinkle the top with more torn basil, to your taste. Cut the lasagna with a knife and scoop out servings with a spatula to serve.