Lasagna Soup

As I am sure you can tell, and from me just coming out and saying it, I love lasagna.  You have seen my posts about Spaghetti Squash Lasagna and Simple Lasagna so it shouldn't surprise you that I have now come up with another lasagna recipe.  This time, combining the yummy ingredients of lasagna into a soup form.  This is not the cleanest recipe, especially if you stay away from dairy, but if you omit adding the cheese mixture, you have yourself a nice, filling (and vegan) tomato pasta soup.  What is nice about this recipe is it is done in the Crockpot and is a super easy meal and an even easier clean up.  Enjoy!

Lasagna Soup

Ingredients

Soup:
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups baby bella mushrooms, sliced
2 medium zucchini, sliced, then halved
1 15oz can of tomato sauce
1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
6 cups vegetable broth
2 bay leaves
2 tsp oregano
1 Tbsp basil
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1 package of brown rice fusilli pasta


Cheese Mix:
1 8oz tub of part skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
1 tsp parsley
1 Tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped

Combine onion, garlic, mushrooms, zucchini, tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, vegetable broth, bay leaves, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste in a Crockpot.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  When soup has 2 hours left to cook, stir in pasta and allow to cook for remaining time.

While soup is cooking, combine ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, parsley and fresh basil in a medium bowl.  Mix and refrigerate until ready to use.

When soup is done, serve topped with dollop of cheese mixture.