Slow Cooker Lasagna

I use to make this weekly. I recently made this again and it was a big hit--as always. Add a side salad and breadsticks for a complete meal

8 Lasagna noodles uncooked
1 lb. Ground beef browned and drained
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 28 oz. Jar spaghetti sauce
1/3 c. water
15 oz ricotta cheese
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Add the Italian seasoning to browned ground beef. In a separate bowl combine spaghetti sauce and water.

In slow cooker layer as follows: ½ noodles (just break to fit-it doesn't have to look pretty)
½ ground beef
½ sauce
½ ricotta cheese (spread over like you are frosting a cake)
Sprinkle ½ the mozzarella cheese

REPEAT THE LAYERS with remaining ingredients.

Cover and cook on low heat 4-5 hours. DON'T Overcook.

Crockpot Italian Chicken

I love this easy meal! If any of you have any more crockpot recipes...I love using my crockpot! Throw it in and forget about it! I am making this recipe for dinner and love it!

Crockpot Italian Chicken
5 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 pkg Italian dressing mix
1 pkg cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup

Mix dry dressing mix, cream cheese, and soup together. Pour over chicken in the bottom of the crockpot. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Serve with rice or noodles.

Granola

Linton’s Granola

10 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup wheat germ
2 cups grape nuts
½ pound coconut
3 cups chopped or slivered almonds
1-½ cups brown sugar firmly packed
1-½ cups water
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup honey
½ cup molasses
1-½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp vanilla
Raisins or any other dried fruit as desired (after baking)

In a large saucepan, combine brown sugar, water, honey, molasses, salt, cinnamon and vanilla. Heat until sugar is dissolved but do not boil.

Pour over dry ingredients and stir until coated. Spread onto 4 large cookie sheets. Bake at 300 degrees for 30-45 minutes stirring 3 or 4 times. The longer you bake it, the crunchier it will be. After baking add raisins or other dried fruit. Cool. Store in zip lock bags or air tight containers. Makes about 20 cups of granola.


Mom’s Granola

8 C oats (quick or regular)
2 C nuts
2 C coconut
1 C bran
1 C wheat germ
½ C sunflower seeds
Combine in a large bowl; Mix well.

1 C oil
1 ½ C honey
1/4 tsp salt

Boil until frothy; Pour over cereal.
Stir until cereal is coated. Spread
cereal on to a cookie sheet. Bake
at 350 for 30-45 minutes, stirring
every 5-10 minutes.

Bacon, Lettace and Tomato Dip

Bacon, Lettace and Tomato Dip

1 package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup ranch salad dressing
1 medium tomato, seeded and diced
6 bacon slices, crisply cooked, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped celery (I omitted this and used green onions)
2 Tbl finely chopped onion
1 tsp sugar
Lettace leaves (for decoration)

Mix everything together and enjoy with crackers, pita chips, toasted fresh bread, whatever you would like. Great for a football party, appetizer for holidays or just for something to munch on! Enjoy!

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Thanksgiving Left-Over Casserole

We felt like eating Thanksgiving over the weekend, just because. I used just a Turkey breast instead of cooking a whole Turkey, and cooked it in the crock pot. We still had leftovers so I searched on the Internet for a recipe and found a couple that I just combined and made up. This will be good to have after Thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving Left-Over Casserole

Stuffing
Turkey
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes (white or sweet)
Green beans/Green bean casserole
French's fried onions

Pre-heat oven to °350. Use a pan (I prefer glass) that will fit your left overs, I used a 9x9 because we didn't have a whole lot. Spray the bottom and sides of the pan with non-stick spray. Layer the pan with left-overs starting with the stuffing. I just spread it even, but didn't really press it down. Next add turkey, you could cube this, but I just shredded and cut it until it had a good layer on it. I then added some gravy. I warmed up the gravy first so it would spread more easily. Then I added a layer of mashed potatoes that I had also warmed up for easier spreading. I thought that the potatoes would be too dry if I didn't add anything, so I put a little more gravy on top of the potatoes just for flavor. We didn't make green bean casserole, so I just opened a can of green beans, drained them and then layered them on top (I used most of the can). Put into the oven. I baked it for about 20 minutes (if it's a bigger dish it may take longer, so keep checking it) before adding the fried onions, they burn if they are in the oven too long, so add them when you think the casserole is almost done, and bake for 5-10 more minutes. Enjoy!

We really enjoyed this, I was actually really surprised at how good it was. We opened a can of cranberry sauce and ate it along with the casserole. I used a good portion of our left overs so I felt good about not wasting them.

**I even ate the left-over, left-over casserole today and it was still good!