For these two meals there requires some stove top cooking which I do in the morning when it is still relatively cool and I can open a window. We do not have an oven fan in our kitchen so it gets pretty warm whenever I cook anything. This also allows me to be busy at home or outside while our food cooks so that I can make the most of these long summer days. Food is ready to eat whenever my husband gets home and all the planning and cooking has been done for hours.
![lasagna lasagna](http://lh3.ggpht.com/-DUfjsDgLPdY/TicwbOrbe7I/AAAAAAAAIbY/HgrJrjfzhjk/lasagna_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800)
1. I like to hide lots of veggies in everything {one time I made lasagna without extra veggies and my husband said, “this is really good! what did you do differently? wait, there aren’t any veggies in this, huh?”}. For onions I use my pampered chef chopper to get it cut up nice and small very quickly.
2. I cook the meat {usually ground turkey} with tomatoes, bell peppers, onions…whatever I have around.
3. The key to making this super easy is to not cook the lasagna noodles {I buy whole wheat}. The trick is to add enough water to your dish so that the noodles will cook as the whole meal cooks {thanks to my MIL who taught me this!}. You can do this when you cook it in the oven as well. For the slow cooker {since it is taller than the usual lasagna dish cooked in the oven} I added about 2 cups of water. I just add enough to where I see the water is just almost covering the top layer. The longer it cooks, the better the water is absorbed…no extra juices lying around!
![enchilada enchilada](http://lh4.ggpht.com/-T6Is0izgRoI/Ticwd2gtWbI/AAAAAAAAIbg/6nJDC7VC5xE/enchilada_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800)
For the enchiladas, it is a similar system. Layer and cook. I use the following ingredients:
-Flour tortillas
-Enchilada sauce {from America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook—my favorite go-to cookbook, uses canned tomatoes, onions, and spices so I don’t have to add more veggies!}
-Black beans
-Ground turkey
-Cheese
…
*You always want to make sure your dry layers {i.e. lasagna noodles/tortillas} each are topped with sauce. This guarantees they because deliciously soft and infused with flavor!
What do you make in the crock pot?