Cooking is something we do everyday in one way or the other. Whether we are preparing breakfast, lunch or dinner, making a tuna sandwich or baking a dessert, we need a recipe to follow. There are times we may not think that we are following a written recipe because it is one that is very simple and we have it memorized, like making a sandwich, but in actuality we are still 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 prefer to cook healthy diet food. They know that a complete meal should have every food group such as meat, carbohydrates, vegetables, fruits, and so no. The healthy diet pyramid tells you what are the acceptable ingredients you should use in your recipes.
Here is a very good crockpot recipe for a pasta dish main course that has ingredients from many food groups. This pasta dish is chicken lasagna. The name might sound like a simple dish but it is exceptionally tasty. This recipe serves 4 people and takes approximately 5 hours to prepare. It is not complicated to cook 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 about 1 pound of cooked, shredded chicken breasts or more if you like more protein than an average person. 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 your favorite vegetables, such as eggplants, you can add some in your ingredients too but make sure they are finely chopped.
Let’s Start Cooking!
First you want to brown the onions, any other vegetables, and garlic in a non-stick pan. Then you will add the spaghetti sauce and mix everything together very well. In a separate bowl, you will mix the cheeses, milk and egg. Grease the crockpot a little. Place 1/4 of the spaghetti meat sauce mixture in the bottom of your crockpot then, 1/3 of a layer of noodles. You can break the noodles to fit your crockpot. After that, you can place roughly 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.
