Lasagna
The Food Stamp Way
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I have a confession to make; I can't make lasagna in the oven. Every time I try, the noodles end up dried up and crunchy. In short, it's a bust - every time. There are two ways that I can make one: buy it from a store or use the crock pot. We're trying to do the "not from the freezer section" thing, so let's make it in the crock pot instead!
The problem with crock pot recipes, for most people, is that they perceive them as taking too long. This particular recipe takes about 30 minutes of prep work and 4 hours to cook. If you don't want to get up and do it before work some morning. Take some time the night before you want to serve it and do all the prep work. Then put the removable part of your crock pot in the fridge over night. The next morning, when you're getting ready for work, put the removable part of the crock part into the heating part, put the cover on, and turn it on low. Then walk out the door ready to come home to lasagna that night!
| Equipment you'll need |
|---|
| Crock pot, skillet, knife, cutting board, mixing bowl |
| Ingredient | Amount | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Italian Sausage | 1 lb | $3.00 |
| Medium onion | 1 | $0.50 |
| 24 oz cans pasta sauce | 2 | $2.00 |
| Shredded mozzarella | 2 c. | $2.29 |
| Ricotta | 15 oz | $2.15 |
| Grated parmesan | 1 c. | $2.66* |
| Uncooked lasagna noodles | 16 oz |
$1.77
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| Total | $14.37 | |
| * Based on price per package divided by amount used. | ||
| 8 ounces of brick cheese makes 1 cup of shredded cheese. |
| Depending on where you buy it, ricotta cheese can be the same price as cottage cheese or as much as three times the price. Decide appropriately, and substitute cottage cheese if it's less expensive. |
| Italian Sausage was on sale this week which made it literally 3¢ more expensive than ground beef. If it's not on sale where you are, or if your family doesn't eat pork, substitute ground beef and sprinkle some Italian seasonings over it while it cooks. |
| Chop the onion into medium-size pieces. |
| Brown the meat and onion together in a skillet. Drain the grease off and mix the pasta sauce with the meat. |
| Mix 1 cup of mozzarella with the Parmesan and ricotta together in a bowl. Reserve the rest of the mozzarella in the fridge for later. |
Instructions:
2. Cover the sauce mixture with lasagna noodles. Break them to cover it as completely as possible.
3. Cover the noodles with about one-third of the cheese mixture. Use a spoon to spread it around, if you need.
4. Cover the cheese with a quarter of your sauce mixture. I use my spoon to squish them together a bit to make it cover more area, but that's up to you.
5. Cover the sauce mixture with lasagna noodles again.
6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 once more.
7. Cover the top layer of noodles with the last of your meat sauce.
8. Place in the cooking element of your crock pot on low for at least 4 hours.
9. About 20 minutes before you're ready to eat, sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella cheese over the top of the sauce and replace the cover.
10. When the cheese is all melted, dish it out and eat.
What recipe would you like done the food stamp way? Comments? Questions? Tweet to @cookingcheap
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