Crazy Slow Cooker Lasagna Rolls

I love lasagna. All the time. I don't care if you like it with ricotta or with bechemel sauce, or with meat or without or whatever. Lasagna rules. Forever. And don't you forget it. So, of course, I bookmark almost everything to do with lasagna that I come across. I found this recipe that someone had made for a single serving of lasagna rolls and the recipe was so easy and yummy sounding that I kind of quadrupled it.. kind of. What I wound up with was not quite a quadrupling but it was close. Don't be fooled by the name, I'm sure this could be easily adapted for the oven and would probably be better. Mine had gotten a little crispy along the sides even after 3 hours, soooo..

Also, I love fresh basil. Look at my pretty chiffonade. LOOKIT ME I USED A BIG FANCY CULINARY TERM!

You can find the original 1 person recipe at the link below, I'll try to write how mine went.

Slow Cooker Lasagna Rolls  (As adapted from Pots and Plots)

4 links of italian sausage, casings removed (I may have used 3 or so, i just threw sausage into the cheese until it looked good)
3 roasted red peppers, chopped small (the entire contents of a small jar of roasted peppers)
1 3/4 cups of ricotta cheese (the quadruple would have been 2 but the little tub only had that much.)
2 cups of marinara sauce (I used an entire normal size jar of spaghetti sauce)
3 to 4 tablespoons of fresh basil, chopped (the package I bought only had about 2, more would have been great)
12 lasagna noodles
salt and pepper to taste 

1) Brown your sausage and drain.

2) Boil your lasagna noodles according to package directions. I added a tablespoon of oil or so to try and help them not to stick to eachother.

3) In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta, sausage, peppers, basil, and salt and pepper.

4) Once the noodles are done (don't overcook!), remove them CAREFULLY from the strainer and blot them a little with a papertowel. It helps the filling stick.

(I laid out a piece of saran wrap on the counter to lay the noodles out on, they didn't stick to the cling wrap like they might to a plate or the counter, and I could make a mess and not have to wipe the counter off)

5) Spray your slow cooker inside with cooking spray. (I didn't do this step, but nothing stuck anyway)

6) Cover the bottom of your slow cooker insert with around half the marinara sauce. This will keep things from burning right on.

7) Spread your filling out on all your noodles, then roll them up gently and place seam side down next to eachother in the slow cooker.

8) Cover with the rest of the marinara sauce and however much parmesan cheese you want to, really. Make sure you put a little sauce along the sides so the noodles aren't up against the hot side with nothing to moisten them up.

9) Cook on LOW (and if you turn your crockpot up to High to preheat it, please don’t forget to turn it BACK down to low) for 2 and a half hours.  Remember, everything is already cooked, so you’re mainly just getting everything warm and melty.

I was so excited about everything that I forgot to take a picture of them before they were served, but here's one on my plate!

Aw yeah, baby. That's some good stuff. Also, that frozen garlic bread was awesome. Really, it was a good recipe, I loved the addition of the peppers to the filling. Oh, and 9 rolls fit PERFECTLY into the slow cooker. Making 12 as I did, 3 of the little buggers had to sit on top. It all worked out in the end, but just something to keep in mind. They were devoured with much gusto by all.