Crockpot Lasagna Soup

I found this recipe awhile back on Pinterest, and decided to tweak it a bit and make it a crock pot recipe instead of a regular stove top soup recipe. It's winter and though Lasagna is a comfort food - what's better than having a comfort food that is also a soup! Double win, double comfort! 

This makes a full crockpot of soup (I think mine is 6.5 quarts) and we ate it for dinner one night, lunch the next with the rest going in the freezer for later!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp exra virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 lb ground turkey (you can use ground beef if you'd like)
• 1 lb hot sausage, about 5 links (can do sweet or hot/sweet combo if you want)
• 2 large yellow onions, diced 
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes (I used 1 with garlic, basil and oregano)
• 2 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes (I used 1 regular, 1 with garlic, basil and oregano)
• 4 Tbsp tomato paste
• 4 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
• 1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 8-10 lasagna noodles, broken into bite size pieces (uncooked)
• 1 1/4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese 
• 8 oz ricotta cheese

• Directions:
• Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, crumble ground turkey and sausage into pan, season with salt and pepper to taste and cook til almost done, it will continue to cook in the crockpot. Drain fat from mixture and put into the crockpot. Heat remaining tablespoon olive oil in pot, add chopped onion and sauté until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 30 seconds longer. Add in chicken broth and stir to combine, scraping any bits off the bottom of the pan for extra flavor. 
• Transfer broth, onion and garlic mixture to the crockpot and add in diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, oregano, rosemary, fennel seeds, thyme, sugar, parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Turn crockpot on for 7-8 hours on low, put the cover on and come back later!
   
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  About 45 minutes before the crockpot is finished, drop in the broken pieces of lasagna and stir to make sure they are covered by the soup.
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• In a mixing bowl, stir together mozzarella, parmesan and ricotta. 
• Ladle soup into bowls, dollop with a large scoop of the cheese mixture and sprinkle with chopped parsley. The cheese will melt in the hot soup.
• *The original recipe was cut in half with only ground beef. If you want less, just cut everything in half and use 1 lb of any meat you choose.
• Eat, Enjoy and Be Happy!