Lasagna

Meat Sauce:

Brown 1 lb of hamburger or Italian sausage on the stove
Add to the meat: Two 26.5oz cans of Spaghetti Sauce or make your own

In a separate mixing bowl combine cheeses:

1 15oz container of ricotta cheese or cottage cheese
(I used ricotta)
1 egg
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp dried parsley

Put 1/4 of the meat sauce into the bottom of the crock pot (3 ladles)
Top with 5 uncooked lasagna noodles, break into pieces as needed
Cover noodles with 1/2 of the cheese mixture
Sprinkle 1/2 cup shredded mozarella cheese
Put 1/4 of the meat sauce over the layers
Repeat the noodles, cheese mixture, mozzarella and meat mixture

Top with one more layer of 5 noodles and cover the top with the last of the meat mixture. I used oven ready noodles, but I think it would work with regular lasagna noodles too. It took one 12oz package. Each layer of meat sauce is 1/4 of the total. I used a soup ladle...3 ladles was 1/4. You'll have to experiment with your own measurements at home...or just eyeball it.

Cover and cook on LOW for 4-5 hours, mine was done in 4 hours. A crock pot liner would be great for this, but isn't necessary.

15 minutes before serving, top with mozzarella cheese, let it melt and serve.

*Home-cooked lasagna without turning on the oven?! I can't tell you how happy this makes me! We LOVED this. I'm sure you can use any favorite lasagna recipe and this will work in the crock pot. Easy, easy, easy!

Sausage Rice

Brown in skillet: 1 lb sausage

Add it to the crockpot with:

2 apples, diced - no need to peel
1 yellow onion, chopped - yah right, I did onion powder
1 carrot, shredded or chopped
6 cups already cooked long-grain rice (3 cups raw)
1/2 cup raisins or Craisins (I used Craisins)
1 Tbsp dried parsley flakes (I was out)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup chicken broth or water (I used water - I put it in the VitaMix Blender to help chop up my carrot)

Stir everything up, cover and cook on LOW 5-6 hours or HIGH 3-4 hours, it will be the consistency of fried rice.

*I KNOW that these ingredients sound so strange together, but this was absolutely YUMMY! I will tell you that it wasn't a hit with everyone in my family, but they will have to learn to love it. I'm going to be making it again...and again! By the way, can you believe that I was out of parsley? I better get it onto my grocery list.

Potato Chowder

Fill the crockpot 3/4 full of peeled, diced potatoes. Add water, just enough to cover all the potatoes - leaving at least an inch to the top of the crockpot.

Sprinkle with salt.

Cook all day on LOW or all afternoon on HIGH.

About 1 hour before dinner:

Add 1-2 14oz cans evaporated milk (I usually use 2 cans)
1 cup frozen corn (optional)
onion powder
parsley (optional)
Meat of your choosing: diced ham, bacon bits, ground sausage

(I don't even bother to cook the sausage ahead of time sometimes, I just crumble it in to the hot potatoes and stir. The sausage cooks quickly.)

Cook one more hour and serve (taste to see if you need more salt)

*A very inexpensive dinner, we have it often. Usually with homemade bread or cornbread. We call this chowder, not soup, at our house because my husband likes it thick with LOTS of potatoes. You could make it more like a soup with less potatoes and more broth if you like that better.

Italian Sausage Soup

Brown in skillet:

2 TBSP Olive Oil
1/2 to 1 lb of sausage (I used Jimmy Dean's regular sausage roll)
1 1/2 cups chopped onion (I did NOT add onions, I used onion powder instead)

In VitaMix Blender, mix just enough to create small carrot chunks:

2 large peeled carrots
1 14oz can cut tomatoes, undrained
1 14 oz can of chicken broth (2 cups)

Put all in the crockpot and add:

2 stalks celery, chopped (I did NOT add this, I was out)
1 chopped garlic clove
1 tsp basil
1 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp dried sage
4-6 more cups chicken broth
1 14oz can kidney beans, undrained
1 more 14oz can cut tomatoes, undrained

Cook on LOW 5-6 hours. About 30 minutes before dinner, add 1 uncooked cup of elbow macaroni or pasta of your choice.

*This got rave reviews and the leftovers didn't last very long. I started the breadmaker at the same time, a great accompaniment to the soup! Just so you know, the 1 cup of dry pasta is enough, if you do more, it will take over the soup...you've been warned...