Monkey man has an appointment today with his neuro-ophthalmologist, Dr. R. Eye appointment days are long, stressful and emotional. Thankfully Dr. R started working at a new clinic which is only an hour away instead of driving all the way to Sick Kids in downtown Toronto. So only two hours of driving today – thank goodness for small blessings yes?
Eye appointments are long and Monkey Man hates getting the stingy drops in his eyes. By the end of all the tests, drops and waiting we are exhausted and truthfully a little on edge. Days like this are the ‘perfect storm’ of excuses to not eat a home cooked meal. Take out becomes very appealing especially since by the time I get home I certainly won’t have the time to cook anything and Monkey will be less than cooperative after a long day.
Enter the slow cooker.
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I know if the grid goes down one day I will have to live without this little miracle with a plug, but for now I LOVE it and use it often. Maybe I’ll have a dedicated solar system just for the kitchen gadgets??
But I digress… Having a slow cooker has been a game changer for us when it comes to home cooking on days when there isn’t time for home cooking. This is one of our favourite slow cooker meals and we make it about once a month. We got an amazing bunch of kale and some micro-basil from our CSA and they are just begging to be made into this Italian favourite.
Photo Credit: www.lifehack.org
Prep time is about 15 minutes or so but if you are short on time in the mornings you can wash/chop the veggies and shred the cheese the night before so that all you need to do worry about in the morning is assembly (which is less than five minutes).
Aside About Cottage Cheese
I wrote about this on my Instagram page so if you’ve heard this before feel free to skip to the delicious recipe found just below.
Finding food that isn’t full of crap can be really hard. Next time you are shopping for cottage cheese I encourage you to read the labels carefully. You will be hard pressed to find a single product that doesn’t have 6+ ingredients (most of them unpronounceable). But this morning when I went shopping I found that Western Brand cottage cheese only had TWO ingredients – skim milk and bacteria culture – that’s it! Sure it’s three times the costs of the no name stuff but I can’t tell you the relief I feel feeding this to my family over other brands.
Photo Credit: http://www.mariaushakova.com/
So next time you’re out shopping I encourage you to read all the labels. We shouldn’t be fearing the fat in food… we should be fearing the stuff they put in to replace it!
- 2 jars tomato sauce homemade works well too
- 9-10 lasagna noodles we use whole wheat wavy ones
- 1 large container cottage cheese
- 4 cups chopped vegetables of choice we use kale most often
- 2-3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese we are a cheese loving family so we use 3
- Parmsean cheese for topping
- Using coconut oil or butter, grease your slow cooker so the lasagna does not stick.
- Spread about 3/4 of a cup of tomato sauce on the bottom of the slower cooker. Place a layer of lasagna noodles over the sauce. You will need to break them to make the fit. Doesn't need to look pretty and overlapping is okay.
- Over the noodles you will build layers as follows: 1/3 of each (cottage cheese, veggies, 1/3 sauce and shredded cheese). End with another layer of noodles and repeat the layer pattern two more times.
- You will be left with a final layer of noodles. Over this spread a thin layer of sauce and whatever shredded cheese you have left. We also topped with a bit of cottage cheese so we wouldn't waste it.
- Cover and cook for 3 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low. In our slow cooker it takes about 5 hours. Turn off your slow cooker and let the lasagna sit for at least an hour. This will allow the moisture from the sauce to be absorbed by the lasagna. The longer you let it sit the more lasagna-like it will be in structure.
- If you are in a pinch for time no worries! Simply serve as lasagna soup/chili instead. Still delicious just a bit watery 😉
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!
In good health,
P.S. Pin for future reference and to share in the slow cooker love 😉
