Need a new Meatless Monday recipe? This is a good one. I adapted this recipe from a spinach lasagna roll recipe I found and tried.
Ingredients
- 10-12 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well-drained
- 1/2 lb lasagna noodles, broken in half, cooked halfway
- 16 oz small curd cottage cheese (or ricotta cheese)
- 16 oz shredded Parmesan cheese
- 24 oz pasta or marinara sauce (about 1 quart)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
Process
- Spray a 5-6-quart slow cooker crock with cooking oil spray.
- In a small bowl, combine the cottage (or ricotta) cheese, half of the Parmesan, and the seasonings.
- Add about 1/4 of the pasta sauce in the bottom of the crock. Layer 1/3 of the noodles over the sauce (about 6 lasagna halves). Pour over another 1/4 of the sauce. Spread over 1/2 of the cheese mixture. Loosely spread 1/2 of the spinach over. Then repeat layers of noodle, sauce, cheese, and spinach. Top with final 1/3 of noodles, 1/4 of sauce, and then the reserved half of Parmesan.
- Cook on High for 2-3 hours or Low for 4-6 hours.
Tips
- If you forget to thaw the spinach ahead of time (ahem…), dump the bag out into a colander. Rinse with hot tap water briefly (about 30-60 seconds). Then, to drain, squeeze the spinach very well and place in a separate bowl.
- To doctor a jar of store-bought marinara (you know, if it’s on super mega sale and so you buy a dozen jars only to discover it’s rather sweet and fairly bland…), add directly to the jar 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, and 1 tsp red wine vinegar. Stir with a butter knife or tea spoon. Ah, much better. 😉
- If your family appreciates a gooier lasagna, substitute shredded mozzarella for the Parmesan (about 2 cups total).
- Don’t like spinach? Missing the meat? Substitute 1 lb cooked, crumbled, and drained Italian sausage or ground beef for the spinach. Or 1/2 lb for half of the spinach.