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Crockpot Lasagna

By |March 27th, 2020|

Lasagna is usually such a labor intensive process so I usually don’t make it, you have to cook the meat, boil the noodles, make the tomato sauce. and then assemble and bake for what seems

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Crockpot Lasagna

Lasagna is usually such a labor intensive process so I usually don’t make it, you have to cook the meat, boil the noodles, make the tomato sauce. and then assemble and bake for what seems like forever. I really was not feeling all those steps so I decided to make crock-pot lasagna because I knew it would be a much easier process. I  could  leave my dinner and come back and everything would be ready!

Ingredients

lasagna ingredients

  • 1 pound hamburger, sausage or turkey
  • 29 ounce tomato sauce
  • 9 ounce tomato paste
  • .5 teaspoon dried oregano
  • garlic powder
  • Italian seasoning
  • onion chopped or onion powder
  • mozzarella shredded cheese
  • 2 cloves of garlic minced
  • 10 oz. ricotta or cottage cheese
  • 9 ounce box of no cook lasagna noodles

makes 6-8 servings

Adapted from Taste of Home Slow Cooker Recipes here

Directions

First cook your hamburger with the garlic and onion. After it is cooked drain off the excess fat leave it in a strainer.

cook hamburger

While the hamburger is draining add your tomato sauce to you pan with the tomato paste and warm through adding oregano and other spices(Italian seasoning and garlic powder) till it reaches your desired taste. Keep tasting till you get it how you like it. Add the hamburger back in with the tomato sauce and combine.

 

In a separate bowl add the ricotta and a good handful of shredded mozzarella and mix to combine.

 

I added a crock pot liner to my crock-pot but you do not have to use one. It just saved me from the clean up.

 

First layer add 1/4 of the meat and sauce mixture to bottom your crock pot

 

 

crock pot lasagna

 

Next add a layer of noodles then add a layer of cheese on top.

 

 

Finally add more meat sauce and keep repeating layers until everything is gone.

I had a lot of noodles left over and I think my crock pot is  a 7 quart crock pot.

 

Cook on low for 4-6 hours or until the noodles are cooked and everything is heated through.

Will serve 6-8 people

 

when your serve top with extra shredded cheese.

Do you like to make lasagna? Have you ever tried crock-pot lasagna?

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin muffins are a recipe you can feel good about eating! The pumpkin muffins are super moist and so easy to whip up!

Healthy Pumpkin Muffins

Only 2 ingredients

pumpkin muffin ingredients

spice cake mix

1 can of pumpkin (regular size can)

Directions

Simply mix the two together. Do not add anything but the pumpkin to the cake mix.

The batter will be thick.

pumpkin muffin batter

Try to get out more of the clumps out of mix than I did.

Bake at 325 F

for 15-20 minutes until done. You can insert a toothpick and make sure it comes out clean to determine they are finished.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin Recipe

Lemon is so refreshing to me! I love lemon poppy-seed muffins so when I found this recipe I knew it was a must try. I had much better luck this week with my pin redo then last weeks skinny frosty.

http://pinterest.com/pin/220465344231572399/

Below is my finished muffin:

 

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) softened
  • 1-3 tsp. lemon zest* see notes
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 Tbs. sour cream
  • 3 tsp. poppy seeds
  • 1/2 cup milk

 

Recipe adapted from here

It was a pretty simple recipe to make and it was really yummy as well. I really recommend this recipe. The texture was my favorite part of these muffins and I love the little crunch from the poppy seeds.

 

Instructions for lemon poppy recipe

Preheat oven at 375

1. Start by creaming your butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer till light and fluffy.

 

2. Add eggs one at a time until incorporated, add in lemon zest and then fold in sour cream.

3. In another medium-sized bowl sift flour, baking powder and salt sit aside.

4. Next stir in poppy seeds, lemon juice and milk to wet ingredients.

5. Finally add dry ingredients a little at a time until all ingredients are incorporated.

Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown and a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Makes 16-18 regular sized muffins

 

*notes: These muffins do not have a very strong lemon flavor. If you want a strong lemon flavor then add more zest and lemon juice. If you like really strong lemon flavors you could possibly add zest and juice of 2 lemons and I do not think it would change recipe. I used a smaller size lemon.

Strawberry Popsicles

Strawberry popiscles are another exciting recipe for you and your kids to make! My little cousin was over so we decided to whip some up the other day.

She was so excited, I think she asked me 50 times if they were ready yet!

I recommend doing these the night before because they take a while to freeze. You can avoid the “are they ready yet?”

Ingredients

1 container of ripe strawberries

optional sugar, honey or stevia

Supplies

popsicle mold or cups to freeze popsicles in

food processor, blender or fork

Directions

First wash your strawberries then cut off the stems.

Add the strawberries to the food processor and blend. I left mine with a little bit of texture because that is how I like them but feel free to get them to a liquid state. You can strain the mixture if you do not like seeds.

Taste the mixture and add a much sweetener as you need. I added less than a tablespoon of sugar because my strawberries were already sweet.

 

Fill you popsicle molds and freeze in the freezer and be patient. We waited about 6 hours but the popsicles were not completely frozen and did not want come out of the mold so 8-10 hours would be best.

strawberry popsicles

I did not have a whole container of strawberries so this made four popsicles for us.

Strawberry popsicle

If you want another recipe you and your kids will have fun making be sure to check out How to make you own gummies! Your kids will be so excited to eat them!

make your own gummies

Strawberry lemon sorbet is another refreshing recipe you can try as well.

What is you favorite type of cold treat?

DIY Sisal Jute Twine Jars

DIY sisal jars

Below is another easy project for you that took me about an hour to make.

I have been seeing these jars everywhere lately. I love how they can fit into any décor. You could use these in your craft room, kitchen, bathroom, or anywhere you need to store something. I’m still deciding where I want mine to go.

Supplies

clean can or jar (I used a coffee can)

glue (I used hot glue)

sisal twine or jute twine (I used sisal)

I had all of these items on hand so this didn’t cost me a thing to make. I love freebie crafts! You can find jute twine or sisal twine at your local craft store, hardware store or you can order it online, it should only cost about $3. I would recommend a thicker twine so it won’t take you as long. Another cool texture to try would be braiding the twine. You could also use any glue you had on hand, I just went with hot glue because it dries fast.

Starting at the bottom hot glue the sisal twine as you go just used a little dot, then work your way around the can in a circular motion.

I used a little hot glue every few inches until I moved further up then I spread out the glue farther apart. After you are finished you can go back and trim any long pieces or globs of hot glue.

You can also add twine to the lid for a more polished look. I think older kids would enjoy this craft as well if you gave them a different type of glue so they wouldn’t burn themselves. You can use this on food cans, jars or wine bottles for some added texture in your home.

Raised Garden Bed

I like to think that it is the simple things that bring me the most joy in life. I think it is mostly the unexpected.

Last weekend we decided that it would fun to create a raised garden bed. My fiancé spent a few minutes drawing up what he had in mind and then we headed to our local hardware store to get our supplies. It was a simple project for him. Here is the finished product :) He’s great!

Our yard is a big rock and the soil quality is not that good so we knew we were going to make a raised garden bed. We only needed a few things.

Supplies:
treated lumber

stakes and screws to hold the boards together

weed liner or newspaper to cower the grass on the bottom

soil to fill the raised garden

seeds of your choice

 

If you are thinking of making your own take a look around online there are thousands of images to bring you inspiration and many different  material you can use.

I planted the seeds on Sunday. He asked if I had looked at the flower bed lately and did from the  back door but when I went up there yesterday I couldn’t believe some of the seeds were already sprouting.

If you look closely you can see the sprouted seeds :)

Do you have a garden this year?

What are you growing?