Laura's Week 5 Meal

For week 5 we made the crockpot lasagna, recipe donated by Chris Domser. Here is the recipe:

Meal: Crock Pot Spicy Turkey Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 lbg ground turkey
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t salt
1/2 t red pepper flakes
15 oz light ricotta
2 c shredded Italian cheese
10 oz frozen spinach (chopped, thawed, and squeezed dry)
12 lasagna noodles -- uncooked and broke in half
26 oz chunky pasta sauce
1/2 c water

Directions:

Brown turkey over medium/high heat for 5-7 minutes.  Season with salt, oregano and pepper flakes.  In a bowl mix ricotta, cheese and spinahc.  In a slow cooker, add a liner for quicker cleanup.  Then layer the bottom with noodles broken to cover.  Spoon 1/2 meat, pour on 1/2 pasta sauce and 1/2 water.  Spread cheese mixture over top.  Repeat layering.  Slow cook on low for 4 hours.  Makes 8 pieces.

With this meal I also made twice baked mashed potatoes, garlic bacon green beans, and garlic bread. 

This meal was a huge hit! Everyone really loved it. I wasn't sure how well it was going to turn out since I only had a 3 quart crock pot but it actually worked well, it just wasn't as flat as it probably could have been. It was nice that the lasagna only took about 10 minutes to put together and then just had to cook for about 4 hours. I am generally not a huge fan of lasagna but this was actually pretty good. I liked the ricotta cheese as opposed to the usual cottage cheese. 

Here are the numbers for this weeks meal:

From Central Market:

Spinach 15 oz: $2.39

Crushed Red Pepper 2.62 oz: $4.99 (only used half a teaspoon)

Lasagna Noodles 1lb box: $2.00 (used about 5 noodles)

Spaghetti Sauce 26 oz: $1.39

Ricotta Cheese 32 oz $3.99 (used about half)

Shredded Italian Cheese 16 oz: $2.99

Total for lasagna: $17.75 (served 7 people with one serving left over)

For the sides:

Bacon bits: $2.99 (used half between green beans and mashed potatoes)

Cream cheese: $1.19

Russet Potatoes 5 lbs: $1.79 (used half)

Green Beans: $1.69

Garlic Bread: $2.19

Meal total: $27.60 

If we would have had an 8th person, it would have cost about $3.45 per person. Not bad!

The green beans and twice baked potatoes are something I learned from my mom so if you want the recipe for those let me know and I will tell you, its one of those just throw together dishes you never actually measure out. 

Have a great week everyone!

Laura