Oh lawd - I have been gone for a while now. :/ How embarrassing! I've been so busy working, taking care of kids, cleaning house, going to weddings (seriously - so many Fall weddings), and keeping a regular exercise routine lately. I'm going to make a special effort this weekend to come up with a weekly blogging schedule. (I promise this time) So...as Sir Elton John always says...the bitch is back. ;)
Earlier today - Mr. Cherry and I decided to invest in a nice crockpot. We found a Hamilton Beach crockpot at Target on sale for $24.99. It says $29.99 online...so I guess we got a good deal! We have decided to collect some good recipes from Pinterest and cook them in the crockpot during the day while we are at work. Crockpot + easy online recipes = saving time and money! (hopefully lol) The batch of food I made tonight will probably last us several days. Silas was not very pleased with it though - he says next time he doesn't want cheese on top. What kind of kid doesn't like cheese? Ugh.
Anywho! Here is the recipe y'all...
Vegetarian Crockpot Lasagna
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
1 bag of vegetarian crumbles (We purchased the Quorn brand)
3 cups of vegetable broth (this ended up being 1.5 cans)
1 cup of water
1 tbsp of garlic paste (it's in the refrigerated produce section)
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried basil
1/2 cup chopped onion (this annoyed me - I hate chopping onions!)
1 - 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 - 6 oz can of tomato paste
1 cup of V8 juice
2 cups of uncooked shell pasta
pepper and salt to taste (I'm not a huge fan of salt, so I used it sparingly)
Directions:
First I dumped the can of tomatoes and the tomato paste into the crockpot. Then I poured in the broth, veggie crumbles, garlic paste, parsley, basil, chopped onion, V8, and salt & pepper.
This meal can be cooked quickly (the method we chose tonight) or slower. (if you need more time)
So this means you can cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours...or on high for 4-5 hours. Our lasagna took 4 hours to cook tonight.
Around the 3 hours and 30 minutes mark - we added in the water and uncooked pasta. I then covered it back up and let it simmer 30 more minutes.
Lastly, I sprinkled a healthy amount of cheese on top lol. Next time I will refrain from doing this to Silas' bowl. ;)
I hope everybody is having a wonderful weekend! We are finishing painting our bedroom tonight...so I'm off to paint! Oh...and happy Doctor Who day!
