So I posted last week about making some really incredible butternut lasagna in the crockpot and had several requests for the recipe.
Here it is; however, this one I can’t take any credit for. This came straight out of the book “Paleo Slow Cooking” by Chrissy Gower. I’ve been a big fan of her slow cooker recipes and have tested several. This one has been a big hit here. The one main alteration I made was I didn’t have sausage, but had ground turkey in the freezer, so it won out. Feel free to use whatever ground meats you would like. The sausage ideally is ground up spiced pork that you remove the casing from, but you could use the more formed sausage and chop it up. I haven’t tried freezing this, but I would guess it will freeze really well. I also added some additional veggies, since I had some on hand.
So without further ado…
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup carrots, chopped (about 2-3 small carrots)
- 1 cup yellow onions, chopped (about 1 small onion)
- 1 cup zucchini, chopped (about 2-3 small zucchinis)
- 2 cups sliced mushrooms
- 1 bell pepper, diced (I used a green pepper)
- 1 lbs grass-fed ground beef
- 1 lbs Italian sausage
- 28 oz organic crushed tomatoes
- 28 oz whole peeled tomatoes with juice
- 2 large cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 Tbsp dried oregano or 4Tbsp fresh oregano
- 1 Tbsp dried basil or 2 Tbsp fresh basil
- 1 Tbsp garlic pepper
- 1 butternut squash
1. Place olive oil in the bottom of a large soup pot on medium heat
2. Add carrots, onions, zucchini, mushrooms and bell pepper, and sauté until the vegetables are tender.
3. While the vegetables are cooking, brown the beef and the sausage on medium heat in a separate skillet until fully cooked.
4. Add cooked beef and sausage mixture to the vegetables in the soup pot
5. Add the remaining ingredients except for the butternut squash, mix well, and simmer for 30 minutes.
6. While the sauce simmers, peel, halve, and scoop out the seeds of the butternut squash. Cut the cleaned squash lengthwise in one-quarter to one-half inch thick strips resembling lasagna noodles. They don’t have to be perfect; remember that it’s a casserole. You can also cut the squash into semicircles if you prefer
7. In the slow cooker, ladle a layer of the meat sauce, then evenly spread the squash slices on top of the meat sauce. Continue to alternate meat sauce and squash slices until you have reached at least four layers or more. Fewer layers run the risk of burning.
8 Cover and cook on low for four to six hours.
