Crock Pot Lasagna

In between my second and third 21 Day Fix rounds, Sarah {my coach, who rocks, by the way} offered a week of crock pot cooking ideas for us to help us out. I tried them and found some amazing keepers for us among them. This one, in particular, is my favorite. I wanted to share it with you, because this little gem is proof that you can actually COOK on a clean eating plan and those dishes can actually TASTE DELICIOUS.

I'm a big fan of lasagna, and this recipe did not, in any way, make me feel like I was missing out on "real" lasagna. It's incredibly filling and even surpassing the taste was the ease of cooking. You don't have to pre-cook the noodles {YAY! - I've burned myself on hot lasagna noodles too often} and it just cooks itself in the crock pot all day while you do other things. Win, win!

 Crock Pot Lasagna

* 3 whole wheat lasagna noodles {no need to pre-cook}
* 1 pound ground turkey, browned and drained
* 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
* 1 1/2 cups fresh spinach
* 1 jar {28 ounces Spaghetti sauce}
* 1/4 cup water
* 16 ounces low-fat cottage cheese
* 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated

Line your slow cooker with a liner and break each lasagna noodle in half. Place three noodles on the bottom of the liner. Stir the Italian seasoning in with the cooked turkey and spread half the meat over the noodles. Spoon half the sauce over that, followed by half the water, half the spinach, half the cottage cheese, and half the  mozzarella. Repeat the layers in order and cook on low for four hours. Serve with salad or garlic bread if you desire.

A Few Tips:

* The recipe Sarah gave me called for six noodles broken in half, but the first time I made it, I messed up and only used three. We felt like that was still plenty, so I just adjusted the recipe to save a carb here and there.

* I add the Italian seasoning while I'm browning the meat, because it's easy to stir in then. You can add it then or after it's browned - either way.

* If you want, you could add some onion to your meat.

* Sarah also gave us a recipe to make our own spaghetti sauce, and the last couple of times I've made this, I used between 2-3 cups of that in place of a jar of store-bought sauce.

* I keep a big bag of organic mixed spring greens on hand for my salads. It has spinach in it, but other greens as well. I used that in this and it worked fine. They all wilt down anyway.

* Sometimes I add more veggies than the recipe calls for, mostly because anytime I can sneak in more veggies, I will!!

* A serving of this fills me up, but I always make garlic bread on the side for Ryan.

* If you're skeptical about the taste, let me assure you Ryan really likes this one!