Here’s a twist on lasagna. Spinach, cottage cheese, a chance to eat fish over meat, and five grams of fat per serving– it sounded dreamy. I missed the part about time-consuming white sauce and the fact it would leave my kitchen in the biggest mess it’s seen yet.
Steaming, bubbly end product.
Serves 8 to 10 hungry folks. Cooks 4 to 6 hours on low. (You can cook on high for 2 to 3 hours, but I try not to cook anything on high. I might as well make it in the oven. It’s called “slow” cooking, right?)
What you’ll need:
1 large chopped onion
2 medium nicely diced carrots
2 garlic cloves, dice those suckers up
16 oz. shredded lump crabmeat. I used canned, and I really wouldn’t recommend it. Too watery and “fishy.”
1— 10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry. And when they say squeezed dry, you better squeeze it. It will make your lasagna runny. And honey, who wants runny lasagna? Not me.
1/2 tbs.dried oregano
1 tbs. dried parsley
1/2 tbs. dried thyme
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1—10 oz. package whole wheat lasagna noodles, cooked al dente. Tear or cut them into thirds to make it easier to layer.
For the White Sauce: (Surprise, there’s a white sauce.)
2 tbs. olive oil.
2 tbs. whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt.
1 cup milk, if you use skim it lowers the fat.
2 cups shredded low fat mozzarella, place one cup off to the side until the very end
1–12 oz. carton non fat cottage cheese
How to cook it:
1. Saute onion, carrots, and garlic in medium skillet until tender. Add spinach, crab and spices and remove from heat.
2. Mix together all ingredients for white sauce using only 1 cup of the mozzarella.
3. Repeat layers in crock pot using crab mix, lasagna noodles and white sauce.
4. Cover and cook on low 4 to 6 hours.
5. 20 to 30 minutes before the time is up, add that 2nd cup of mozzarella over the top and let it melt over the lasagna. I forgot to do this, and the “cheesiness” would have helped.
End Result:
The words I would use to describe this dish after I ate it? Interesting and different, but good? Not necessarily. It was fishy and runny, and needed more cheese. I don’t know how to fix that fishy taste. Matt thought if we used lump crabmeat instead of drained from the can, it would make a difference. I think if we used fresh rather than canned? Maybe we just don’t like crab and didn’t know it until now. As usual, we ate it all, but I wasn’t a happy camper. Unless that fishy taste can be killed, I won’t make it again. I forgot that final layer of mozzarella. I think that would have made a difference, too. And my kitchen….oh, my kitchen. I usually clean as I go, but with making the white sauce, I didn’t have time!
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Jennifer
G.I. Crockpot 
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