Last week I made a delicious crockpot lasagna, roughly based on a recipe I found on another blog I read, and it is worth sharing. Lasagna is not something you would typically think to cook in a crockpot (at least I didn’t). Still, this Crockpot Turkey and Summer Vegetable Lasagna is so easy and tastes fantastic. My parents and brother agreed! The trick is to use the lasagna noodles that are “no-boil”. I was worried the noodles still wouldn’t be cooked enough or turn into mush, but they were excellent!
We had a bunch of summer vegetables from a co-worker garden-heirloom tomatoes and peppers-so I wanted this recipe to include those. I stuck with a ground turkey base as the meat, mozzarella cheese because it’s just delicious, and added in spinach for extra nutrients and bulk. The wonderful thing about lasagna is that you really can use any vegetables you want and it will turn out great. I added vegetables that I thought would taste good, so feel free to get creative or use whatever you have on hand!
Unfortunately, this Crockpot Turkey and Summer Vegetable Lasagna recipe isn’t just a “throw everything into the crockpot and come back 6 hours later” because you do have to chop vegetables, brown the meat and sauté some of the veggies, but don’t let that steer you away from trying it!
In the end, I made a healthy, filled-to-the-brim-with-vegetables meal that is served best with a side salad and a bunch of crusty bread to soak everything up. I recommend trying this Crockpot Turkey and Summer Vegetable Lasagna before summer officially come to a close because there are so many delicious fresh vegetables out there that are at their peak flavour right now!
Easy Crockpot Turkey and Summer Vegetable Lasagna
Ingredients
2 medium zucchinis - sliced into half circles
2 medium yellow bell peppers (yellow capsicum) - chopped
1 large yellow onion - chopped
2 cloves garlic - minced- 4 medium heirloom tomatoes - chopped
1 pound ground turkey (minced turkey) - lean
1 bag spinach
1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese - shredded
1 jar Marinara sauce (tomatoes, garlic, herbs, and onions – pasta sauce in southern hemisphere for Italian seafood dish)- 6 pieces lasagna noodles - no-boil
1 tablespoon olive oil - salt, pepper
Instructions
- Chop all vegetables and set aside.
- Sauté zucchini, peppers, onion and garlic in olive oil with salt and pepper.
- After about 5 minutes, add your ground turkey. As it cooks, crumble it into pieces. Feel free to add more pepper or other Italian seasonings to spice it up a bit. Set this veggie/turkey mixture aside when meat is cooked through.
- In the crockpot, add a thin layer of marinara sauce, 3 noodles on top of the sauce (you have to break them up into pieces to fit them all), and half of the veggie/turkey mix. Cover that with fresh spinach and mozzarella cheese.
- Then, more sauce, 3 noodles, the rest of the veggie/turkey mixture and fresh spinach. The final layer was sauce and mozzarella.
- Set the crockpot on low for 4 hours.
- Scoop into bowls, top with fresh basil and parmesan cheese and enjoy!
