1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 cup of chopped cooked spinach (optional)
1 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 jar (25 oz.) pasta sauce
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
8oz. ziti pasta, uncooked
BROWN ground beef and onion in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until beef is no longer pink. Stir in seasoning to evenly coat meat. Stir in pasta sauce. Stir in spinach. Set aside.
MIX 1 cup mozzarella cheese, the ricotta and Parmesan in a medium bowl. Spoon 2 cups of the meat sauce into the slow cooker; top with 2 cups uncooked ziti pasta. Drop half of the cheese mixture, by rounded tablespoons, over pasta; carefully spread over pasta using back of spoon. Layer with 2 cups meat sauce, the remaining pasta and the remaining cheese mixture. Top with the remaining meat sauce, completely covering all the pasta and cheese mixture. Place lid on slow cooker.
COOK on LOW for 4 to 5 hours or until noodles are tender.
CAREFULLY remove lid to allow steam to escape. Sprinkle food with the remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese; let stand 10 minutes until melted. Serve food directly from the slow cooker. (Pictures shown below are without this step)
Number of Servings: 5-6
This looks really good. Thanks for sharing!
MJ
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I have an oven ziti recipe, but this sounds even easier. thanks!
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This sounds so good! Thanks for sharing!
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This looks SO good, I could eat it right now LOL
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It really does sound good, looks good and seems easy. That is right up my ally! I will definitely be doing this. I’ve been needing recipes that I can do in my crockpot (which rarely gets used). Thanks! I’ll let you know when I do it.
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This sounds so yummy–I haven’t done a ziti yet in my crockpot, and was wondering how noodles would cook. I did do lasagna and they cooked fine, so I’m very excited to try it out, thank you!
-steph
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