Crockpot Lasagna

With it being so hot this summer, Amy and I decided to use the crockpot more often as to not have the oven heat up the kitchen. Luckily we had on hand the Fix it and Forget it Lightly cookbook. This was the first recipe we tried out of the book and it was mighty tasty.


CrockPot Lasagna

This makes 8 serviings
(Ideal slower-cooker size: 4 or 5 quart)

4/12 cups fat-free, low sodium meatless spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup water
1 pound ground turkey
16 oz container fat-free ricotta cheese (I could only find a 15 oz...it worked fine)
2 cups shredded park -skim mozzarella cheese, divided
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
1 egg
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp Italian seasoning (I didn't have this so I mixed oregano, basil, onion powder and parsley together)
8 oz. box no-cook lasagna noodles

1. Brown ground turkey
2. Mix spaghetti sauce, 1/2 cup water and browned ground turkey together in a bowl
3. In a separate bowl, mix ricotta, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, egg, garlic and italian seasoning.
4. Spread 1/4 of the sauce mixture in botton of slow cooker. Top with 1/3 of the noodles, breaking if needed to fit (yes...you will need to break them)
5. Spread with 1/2 of the cheese mixture, making sure noodles are covered.
6. Repeat layers twice more. (we did 5 layers and we still had noodles left over)
7. Spread top with remaining sauce.
8. Cover. Cook on low for 5 hours.
9. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover. Let stand 10 minutes to allow cheese to melt. (I let it cook for 20 minutes with the cheese so that it would get a little brown)

For those of you who need the breakdown here it is:

Per Serving: 360 calories (90 calories from fat), 10g total fat (4.5 saturated, no trans fat) 40 mg Cholesterol, 870 mg sodium, 39g total Carbohydrate (6g fiber, 10g sugar), 25 g protein.

Fire Cracker Bites

Here is a recipe Amber did for a treat in Relief Society. It tasted really good!
She didn't add the fuses (licorice) and used multi colored sprinkles, but it was great!



Fire Cracker Bites

1 Pkg. (8oz) Cream Cheese Softened
1 Cup Cold Milk
1 Pkg. (3.40z) Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
1-1/2 Cups Thawed Cool Whip
1 Pkg. (12oz) Nilla Wafers
½ Cup Red, White & Blue sprinkles
42 Pieces Red String Licorice (1 inch)

Beat cream cheese in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in milk. Add dry pudding mix; beat for 2 min. Whisk in 1 cup Cool Whip

Spoon about 1-1/2 Tbsp. pudding mixture onto each of half the wafers; cover with remaining waters to make sandwiches. Freeze for 2 hours or until filling is firm.

Spread tops of wafer sandwiches with remaining Cool Whip. Dip in sprinkles. Insert licorice piece into top of each for the fuse. Freeze until ready to serve.

Fruit Pizza

Here's a prize winning dessert made for a Relief Society cook-off. Congrats Amber for the win!!

Fruit Pizza
1 tube Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookie dough
2-8oz packages of cream cheese
2/3 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla
Assorted fresh fruit (sliced, if appropriate)--strawberries, blueberries, peaches, bananas, kiwi all work well
lemon juice

Spread the package of cookie dough onto a pie pan 12 - 14" and cook according to package directions.

Let Cool

Mix Cream Cheese, vanilla and sugar together and spread over cooled cookie.

Arrange fruit in any design or pattern you'd like... be creative!

Zucchini Crumb Sheetcake

I went to my local Farmer's Market this last Saturday and a 3 pound zucchini was calling my name. So I bought it thinking a nice zucchini treat would be a neat. I called Ginger for a recipe and she gave me 4 to try. This is the first one I made and boy is it tasty! I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I have.

Zucchini Crumb Sheetcake

Combine together:
3 eggs
2 c. Sugar
3 t. vanilla
1/4 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt

Then add:
2 c. grated zucchini
2 c. flour

Put the cake mixture into a greased and floured cookie sheet (with sides). Then put the crumb topping on top.

Crumb Topping
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. flour
2/3 c. butter


Cook in a 350 degree oven for 25-28 minutes. Take out of oven and cool slightly. Drizzle with a glaze.

Glaze
1 c. powdered sugar
1 T. butter
2 T. warm orange juice