Coke Beans

Today we continue with the theme of hearty food for cold people with this interesting recipe which combines a protein and caffeine. How bad could that be? -- ML

Gotta love these baked beans. This is a crockpot recipe.

COKE BEANS

Use as many cans of baked beans as you want. (6 or 8 people: 2 tall cans of the Bush's Original baked beans).

Drain 3/4 liquid from canned beans.

Put 1/2 of the beans in the crockpot - cover with cooked bacon (optional).

Add other 1/2 of the beans. Barely cover with Coke (probably 1 can).

Cover with a 3/4 cup to 1 cup of brown sugar.

Bake uncovered at 250 to 300 degrees for 6 hours.

Slow Cooker Lasagna

If you're like me, you want to befriend your slow cooker as much as possible. It's just a beautiful things to pop the ingredients in earlier in the day when you have time, leave it alone and come back to a tasty dinner.

Cathy offers us this recipe for slow cooker lasagna. I haven't made it yet, but certainly plan to next week when there will be a lot of people coming and going due to the holidays.

1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (29 oz) tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1 package (8 oz) no-cook lasagna noodles
4 cups (16 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1-1/2 cups (12 oz) small-curd cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a skillet, cook beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the tomato sauce, water, tomato paste, salt, and oregano; mix well. Spread a fourth of the meat sauce in an ungreased 5-qt. slow cooker. Arrange a third of the noodles over sauce (break noodles if necessary). Combine the cheeses; spoon a third of the mixture over noodles.Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining meat sauce.Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or until noodles are tender.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings. YUMMY!