Slow Cooker Lasagna

August. The month that smells like sunscreen and chlorine and dread, because August means summer is ending, and summer ending means going back to DeKalb, and going back to DeKalb means leaving Jess, and leaving Jess means trusting the net to hold when I'm not here to check the knots. I don't trust the net. I check the knots every day. But I can't stay in Oak Lawn forever, standing at the park district desk answering phones about swim lessons, and Jess would be the first person to tell me that — has told me that, actually, last week in the Target parking lot when I floated the idea of commuting from home. She said, "Mandy, go to school. I'm not your project." Which stung because it was mean and also because it was a little bit true and also because the fact that she could say it clearly, with that old Jess sharpness, was proof that she's in there, she's still in there.

I processed feelings the way I process everything: through ground meat and a skillet. Tuesday I made a big batch of taco meat — ground beef, cumin, chili powder, garlic, onion, a can of tomato sauce — and portioned it into freezer bags. Four bags. Four future dinners that Mom and Dad can pull from the freezer when I'm gone. I'm pre-cooking my absence. I'm leaving food behind like a note on the counter that says I was here and I'm still taking care of you even from sixty miles away. This is either thoughtful or deeply controlling. Probably both.

Wednesday Babcia Rose taught me her pierogi dough. Not the filling — she's shown me that before — but the dough itself, which she's been guarding like a state secret since the Cold War. Flour, egg, sour cream, salt, warm water. Simple. But the way she kneads it — the pressure, the fold, the quarter turn — that's not a recipe, that's muscle memory built over sixty years of Sundays. I wrote it down. She saw me writing and said, "You don't need to write. You need to feel it." I kept writing. I love her. I will feel it later. Right now I need the notes.

Jess texted Friday: a photo of her walking shoes, muddy, with the caption "2 miles today." I saved the photo. I save everything. I am building a file of evidence that Jess Papalardo is going to be okay, and I will accept no cross-examination on the matter.

All that talk of muscle memory and dough and recipes that live in your hands rather than on paper left me craving something that didn’t require sixty years of practice—something I could just layer together and let the slow cooker handle while I wrote everything down. Slow cooker lasagna is my version of “you don’t need to feel it, you need to set it and forget it,” and honestly, Babcia Rose would probably be horrified, but it feeds eight people and requires zero Cold War secrets. Here’s how I made it.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 3 hrs 30 min | Total Time: 3 hrs 50 min | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs ground beef (80/20)
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 jar (24 oz) marinara sauce
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tablespoons tomato paste
12 uncooked lasagna noodles, broken into thirds
15 oz whole-milk ricotta cheese
1 large egg
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (or 1 tablespoon dried)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Instructions

Brown the meat. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef and diced onion together, breaking the meat into crumbles, until no pink remains, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more. Drain excess fat. Season with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes.
Build the sauce. Stir the marinara, diced tomatoes, and tomato paste into the skillet with the meat. Remove from heat and set aside.
Mix the ricotta layer. In a medium bowl, stir together the ricotta, egg, parsley, 1/2 cup of the mozzarella, and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan until combined.
Layer the slow cooker. Spray a 6-quart slow cooker insert with nonstick spray. Spread 1 cup of the meat sauce on the bottom. Add a layer of broken noodles (about a third), overlapping slightly. Dollop half the ricotta mixture over the noodles and spread gently. Add another layer of sauce. Repeat: noodles, remaining ricotta, sauce. Finish with a final layer of noodles and the remaining sauce on top.
Cook low and slow. Place the lid on the slow cooker. Cook on LOW for 3 to 3 1/2 hours, until the noodles are tender when pierced with a fork. Do not lift the lid during the first 2 1/2 hours.
Add the cheese topping. Sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 cups mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan evenly over the top. Replace the lid and cook on LOW an additional 15 to 20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Rest before serving. Turn off the slow cooker and let the lasagna rest uncovered for 15 minutes before scooping. This helps it set so it slices cleanly.
For freezer prep. Let the lasagna cool completely, then portion into individual freezer-safe containers. Label with the date. Freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat individual portions in the microwave at 50% power in 2-minute intervals until heated through, or thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat covered in a 350°F oven for 20 minutes.

Nutrition (per serving)

Slow Cooker Lasagna — The Batch-Cooking Recipe I Made Before I Left Home So My Family Wouldn’t Have to Figure Out Dinner