Crockpot Lasagna

It's totally overcast here today which is so nice! I just wish it would rain more. It rained a bit this morning but not enough for my liking. Ironic that I left Seattle because I was so tired of the rain, now living in AZ, I can't wait for it to rain. The air here has just been so gross lately, we need a good rain to clean things out. We rarely seem to get cool, big thunderstorms or all-day rain, which is still weird for me, even though I've lived here eight years now. I'd just like one rainy day!! Of course, usually the one time it does rain all day is when I have a bunch of errands or something outside planned to do.

Anyway, I digress. Tonight we're having crockpot lasagna. I've made it before and posted in on here, but I think it's been awhile. I had found a non-meat recipe I was going to try, but it was just noodles, sauce, and cheese which sounded blah to me. So I'm using the recipe I made before but without the ground beef, and I added a box of frozen spinach in with the ricotta cheese. I used to have a really good vegetarian lasagna recipe (Jo, do you remember me making it in college and when you lived here?), but alas I can't find it anywhere. I think I threw it away when cleaning out my printed out recipes awhile back because I didn't think John would ever eat it. We'll see how this turns out. It's nice to have dinner all done, just have to wash the bowl I used to mix the cheese and spinach. Cross your fingers my son takes a good nap today so I can get my chores done and have some couch time! Weather like this makes me want to just lay on the couch. Plus Oprah looks like a good one today, I don't want to miss it! :)

The recipe I'm including is the way I made it last time, with meat.

Crockpot Lasagna
8 lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 lb. ground beef
1 tsp Italian seasoning
28-oz jar spaghetti sauce
1/3 cup water
4-oz can sliced mushrooms
15 oz. ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Break noodles. Place half in bottom of greased slow cooker. Brown ground beef and drain. Stir in Italian seasoning. Spread half over noodles in slow cooker. Layer half of sauce and water, half of mushrooms, half of ricotta cheese, and half of mozzarella over beef. Repeat layers. Cover. Cook on Low for 5 hours.

*****

Like I said above, I skipped the ground beef and mixed in a box of frozen spinach (defrosted and drained) with the ricotta to give it a little more texture and taste. And I didn't do the canned mushrooms because they creep me out, and I think they're gross. Some things just weren't meant to be canned!