Kay’s Cooking Corner

November 21-27, 2016

Crock-pot Lasagna

By Kay Bona

Ever had one of “those days” at the grocery store? You know the kind where the world is happy, birds are singing, people are smiling, and the sun is shining, but something dark happens inside, and you leave with a case of grocery-store horror? Last week our daughter, Amy, had such a day at the King Soopers she shops at in Boulder, Colorado.

Amy tries hard to be a responsible eco-friendly, greenie. With that said, she went to the store with her re-useable grocery bags in hand. Everything seemed to be going well until she made her way up to the checkout.

Amy placed all of her grocery items on the conveyor belt, along with the bags that she had brought. As the checker rang them up, all the items piled up at the end of the counter. Amy paid her bill, and the checker started bagging her groceries, at which time, she told Amy there were not enough of the re-useable bags, so she started to use some of stores “un-green” plastic bags.

Amy stopped her and explained to her that she did have enough, and she could put more items in each bag than what she was doing. This obviously irritated the checker.

Amy politely started bagging herself, and re-arranging the items. The checker, then with a raised voice, started explaining to Amy the “rules” of bagging; seems like Amy put a mango (the kind with the thick skin that you peel off) in the same bag as a package of chicken. Oops!

The irate checker, who by that time, had the attention of almost everyone in the store, yelled that, “she (Amy) was going to make everyone sick by putting that chicken in with her mango, and there was nothing worse than sick humans running around in the environment.”

Amy, mouth open and eyes wide, grabbed her bags and hurried out of the store as quickly as possible. Amy, I really think you did a great job at not cramming one of those little bags in her mouth!

I had a similar experience about two months ago. The world was happy, birds were singing, people were smiling, and the sun was shining. I also took my re-useable bags with me to the store, bought my items and went to the register. Once it was my turn, I politely smiled at the clerk and said “hi”. I received no response. No biggie – guess she was having a bad day.

Anyway, I silently waited and after paying my bill, she started bagging my items. Not only was she rather throwing my groceries in the bags, she was using some of the stores plastic bags. I stepped up and started re-arranging the things I didn’t want smashed, and she made some kind of smart remark about it. I answered that I felt like she was smashing some of my fruits, and then tried to just ignore her and get out of there.

However, on my way towards the door, with a raised voice she asked me if I would like her to go get the manager. I just looked back and told her I knew the manager, and if I felt like I had a problem I would talk to him. Geez, it is getting so difficult to be earth-friendly!

Shopping experiences such as those can really make you want to eat out all the time, but since that is not possible, we just have to smile and get on down the road!

Here is a great recipe for easy lasagna – mine is cooking and smelling wonderful this very minute!

Crock-pot Lasagna

1 lb. lean ground beef
2 links Italian sausage, removed from the casing
1 onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Jar prepared Spaghetti sauce
1 (3 ounce) can tomato paste
2 cups Ricotta cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese
12 ounces lasagna noodles, uncooked
2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese

Brown ground beef, sausage, onion, salt, pepper, and garlic. Add prepared spaghetti sauce and tomato paste to meat; cook until hot and bubbly. Spoon a layer of meat sauce onto the bottom of slow cooker. Add a double layer of uncooked lasagna noodles (break to fit) and top with cheeses. Repeat layers using all ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours.

Kay Bona is a staff writer for the Daily Record and an award-winning columnist and photographer. Contact her at kay@dailydata.com.