Slow-Cooked Lasagna

The other night, Amy was talking to her mom and her mom mentioned that she had made lasagna in the slow cooker. Doesn't that just seem like a brilliant idea? We had to try it, expecially since it's slow cooker season. So we assembled our normal lasagna recipe (below) with no-boil noodles and let it cook in the slow cooker for four hours.

Now, when most people hear "slow cooker recipe," they think of convenience and ease. This is not necessarily true with this recipe. We thought we could explain what we mean via the following list of pros and cons:

Pros: You get to use your slow cooker, which means this can cook without anyone having to be home to make sure the oven (or the lasagna) catches on fire. And you don't have to boil the noodles first (which means you don't have to wrestle with wet cooked noodles).

Cons: You still need to brown the meat and onions separately. You still need to blend together your cheese mixture separately. You still need to assemble each layer of the lasagna; you are just doing this in the slow cooker. The cheesy top doesn't brown. You've made a lasagna, only this lasagna takes 4 hours to cook.

So although this particular recipe was cooked in the slow cooker, it misses the mark when it comes to both convenience and ease (except for using jarred marinara rather than making your own). Nonetheless, the result was what we wished for: a delicious and hearty cheesy layered baked slow-cooked pasta dish that was ready when we got home from work.

Slow-Cooked Lasagna

Ingredients:

I tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 pound ground beef

1 jar marinara sauce

1 pound part-skim ricotta cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

1 egg

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg

1 package no-boil lasagna noodles

2 tablespoons water

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan. Saute the onion, garlic, and Italian seasoning together until the onion begins to soften, then add the ground beef. Brown the beef, stirring often, then add the marinara sauce and cook until heated through; remove from heat. In a large bowl, stir together the ricotta cheese, 1 1/2 cups of the mozzarella, the egg, salt, pepper and nutmeg until well combined. Place the slow cooker on low heat. Pour in a thin layer of the meat sauce on the bottom of the slow cooker. Top the sauce with two noodles, then spread the cheese mixture over the noodles. Cover the cheese mixture with sauce, then noodles, then cheese mixture. Continue the layering process until you run out of cheese mixture and end with noodles on top. Pour the remaining sauce over the top noodles and cover with the remaining half-cup of mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle the water over the lasagna. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on the lowest setting for four hours, or until noodles are tender. 

Super Picante Pepper Jack Sliders

A few days ago, we received two complimentary jars of Pace Picante Sauce and a challenge to create a recipe using the sauce that would be perfect for a Super Bowl party. What fun! We decided to mix the picante sauce with ground beef and make sliders stuffed and topped with pepper jack cheese. After delivering them to our football-fan neighbors, we realized we had a hit on our hands, and vowed to use the second jar to bring another batch to the Super Bowl party. Serve these sliders on your favorite bread or bun; we tried them on Portuguese rolls and three-cheese bread and both were yummy. Thanks to the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program and Pace for the SUPER ingredient that really spiced up our sliders!

Ingredients:

(makes 16 sliders)

1 1/4 lb. ground beef

1 8-ounce jar Pace Picante Sauce (mild)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1/2 lb. brick pepper jack cheese, halved then sliced

additional salt and pepper to taste

buns, rolls, or bread cut to slider size

In a large bowl, mix the ground beef, picante sauce, salt and pepper. Using your hands, form the beef mixture into small slider-sized patties. Flatten each slider slightly, top it with cheese, and re-form the slider so the cheese is stuffed inside (see photos below). Season the top of each slider with additional salt and pepper. Heat a skillet or grill to high heat. In small batches, grill the sliders about four minutes on one side. Flip each slider and top with additional cheese. Cover the sliders in the pan to steam them while they are grilling on the second side. When cooked to preferred doneness, serve on bun, roll or bread, toasted or grilled if desired.

The star ingredient - Pace Picante Sauce, mixed into the ground beef

Flatten patty slightly

Top with cheese

Re-form into slider-sized patty