Cooking is something we do everyday in one way or the other. Whether we are preparing breakfast, lunch or dinner, making a sandwich or baking a dessert, we need a recipe to follow. At times we may not think that we are following a written recipe because the food is one that is very easy to prepare and we have it memorized, like making a sandwich, but in fact we are following a recipe even though it is one that is in our subconscious. People are also more health conscious nowadays. A lot of people are on a healthy diet and they want to cook healthy diet food. Most people know that a complete meal should consist of every food group such as meat, carbohydrates, vegetables, fruits, and so no. The healthy diet pyramid tells you what you should have in your ingredients.
Here is a wonderful crockpot recipe for a pasta dish main course that consists of ingredients from many food groups. This pasta dish is chicken lasagna. It sounds like a simple dish but it is very delicious. It serves 4 people and takes approximately 5 hours to prepare. It is not difficult to make but not that easy either. However, the end result is so tasty that it is well worth the effort.
Ingredients for the Chicken Lasagna
You will need approximately 1 pound of cooked, shredded chicken breasts or more if you like more meat in your lasagna. Then, you need 1 large onion, finely chopped, 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped, 2 jars (17 oz.) of spaghetti sauce, 1 package (18 ounce) “no-cook” lasagna noodles, 1 package (9 oz.) of shredded mozzarella cheese, 1 container (9 oz.) of ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup milk, and 1 egg. Now, if you have a type of vegetables that you really like, such as eggplants, you can add some in your ingredients too but make sure they are finely chopped.
Let the process begin..
First you want to brown the onions, any other vegetables, and garlic in a non-stick pan. Then you can add the spaghetti sauce and mix everything together very well. In a separate bowl, you can mix the cheeses, milk and egg. Grease the crockpot a little. Place 1/4 of the spaghetti meat sauce mixture in the bottom of the crockpot then, 1/3 of a layer of noodles. You can break the noodles so that they fit into your crockpot. After that, you can place about 1/3 of the cheese mixture on top. Then, repeat the process of: sauce, noodles, cheese for two more layers. Put the remaining meat sauce on top. Cook in the crockpot on low setting for roughly 6 hours until the noodles are soft.
