Crockpot Lasagna. Time Saver.
With two busy boys, school back in session and a husband who gets home late half of the week, I need easy food days.
Usually, I roast a chicken with potatoes and then use the carcass and leftovers to make a bone broth soup the next day. Usually Mexican Tortilla.
But, I figured people are going to get tired of that and I’d change it up and do something that I wouldn’t normally think of making in a crock pot. Testing the limits of my crock cookery skills.
Adding essential oils is optional but I know that oil likes to be carried in fat or other oils. Meat usually contains enough fat that the flavor is distributed well throughout the meal.
The essential oils I chose are Black Pepper and Oregano. Black Pepper is known for stimulating the digestive system, delivering antioxidants as well as improving circulation. Plus, it tastes amazing. I remember sitting in the kitchen with my mom when I was about 9 years old, eating slices of avocado and chewing on black peppercorns and I loved the flavor. Random goodness.
I digress.
The Oregano, besides being a famous flavor for Italian dishes, also supports the respiratory system, circulation, is immune enhancing and detoxifying.
This is one oil that I use often in blends for clearing the air in my diffuser, putting under my tongue (mixed with coconut oil and honey first) if I feel sick and for adding to my own hand sanitizer sprays. That said, a drop of oil is super concentrated and goes a long way. They impart a nice flavor to my food and I love anything that adds more of that!
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 4 hours |
| Servings |
meals
|
- 1 large Eggplant
- 64 oz Pasta Sauce
- 32 oz lowfat Ricotta cheese
- 16 oz lowfat Cottage cheese
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 lb grassfed organic Ground Beef (or turkey substitute)
- 16 oz Mozarella cheese
- 1 large Egg
- 1 drop Oregano essential oil
- 1 drop Black pepper essential oil
- Dash of Nutmeg
- 1 Tbl Dried Basil
- To taste Sea Salt
Ingredients
|
|
- OPTION: Slice eggplant into 1/4 inch thick rounds and cover lightly with sea salt. Let sit for 15 minutes on a plate, drain excess water and pat dry. Coat lightly with coconut oil and place on a baking sheet in the oven for 15 minutes at 375 degrees. Or skip this step and just slice the eggplant for baking in the dish. I will mention that this method makes the dish very wet and soupy since there are no pasta noodles to soak up the excess water. But it's still super delicious!
- Mix ricocotta, cottage cheese, egg, parmesan and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl.
- In a mixing bowl, combine ground meat, drop of oregano, drop of black pepper, basil, and sea salt.
- In a large 6 quart crock pot, begin by layering one light layer of pasta sauce on the bottom of the pot, followed by a sprinkle of mozarella cheese shreds and then layer several slices of eggplant to cover the bottom.
- Follow with the ricotta mixture and then dot the top with small bits of the meat mixture. Cover with Sauce. Repeat layering until you reach the top or run out of ingredients.
- I cooked mine on high for 4 hours and then warm for another two hours which had it bubbling pretty nicely. I opted not to pre-ccok my eggplant this time but if I make this one again I will probably either pre-cook or use zucchini as noodles instead. Only because some of the eggplant was not the tenderness I prefer. Meat was cooked through and cheese was bubbling though. All of the flavors were fantastic together.
