I absolutely love using my crock pot! In the past I have
loved the fact that I can throw recipe ingredients in to a Ziploc bag throw it
in the freezer and before work any day just dump it in the crock pot. Bam
dinner is done and waiting for me just like that. Now that I’m not working I
could realistically just use the stove/oven, but I never know when S is going
to be done with work and there is just something homey about smelling lovely
things coming from the kitchen all day. Plus it is especially helpful on the
days L decides he only wants mom all day.
I found this recipe, where else, on Pinterest. It links to
Andrea Dekker’s website; the exact recipe can be found here.
I tweaked it quite a bit based on what I had on hand. I made it last week so I
forgot to take pictures and personally once I mixed it all together it probably
wasn’t very photogenic. Here’s how I did mine:
I added enough sauce (I used Bertolli Arrabbiata sauce,
which gave it a kick) to the bottom of the crock pot just to cover it, then
added a layer of penne noodles (just enough to cover the sauce).
My next layer went sauce (again just a covering of the
noodles), cheese (all I had on hand was cheddar, mozzarella would have been a
much better choice), and pepperoni.
The third and final layer was basically the same: noodles,
rest of the sauce, cheese and pepperoni.
I than poured ½ cup of water over the whole thing. I turned
it on low and let it go for about 4 hours.
I should have listened to other people that have cooked
noodles in the crock pot; you have to stir the whole thing about half way
through to avoid the noodles on top being crunchy. I did mix it all together
but that was at the 4 hour mark so a bit too late. I also had to add another
1/3 cup of water about 3 hours in since it was looking a bit dry.
All in all it wasn’t bad but I really should have added a
bit of salt and other seasonings as she does in the linked recipe. The
Arrabbiata sauce gave it the spice that it needed but it was lacking something.
Also, as I stated above, I would definitely not use cheddar cheese again
mozzarella or an Italian blend would have been a much better choice.
If you give this or Andrea Dekker’s recipe a try let me know
how it worked out for you and if you had to do any special tweaks.
