Last week one of the girls on a local blogging board that I frequent mentioned making lasagna roll ups…the ones she made had spinach in them and I was interested to try. But then I starting thinking about how much I needed to make some homemade pasta sauce and that starts with the grease leftover from making meatballs, and before I knew it I wanted lasagna. In the roll up form.
And how do you curb a craving like that besides just eating it?!
the nice thing about roll ups is that your meal is portion controled for you, I get 1 roll. If I have a whole pan of lasanga in front of me I want the corner piece, and if i'm going to eat lasagna why not just have a big piece.....see where my problem is.
Lasagna Roll Ups
1 box of lasagna noodles
1 med. size container of Ricotta Cheese
1 large egg
Pasta sauce – I used homemade you can use whatever you have in the house. I suggest having a large jar available
1 bag of shredded mozzarella cheese
Parmasean cheese
Meatballs – chopped into small bits (use my meatloaf recipe to make meatballs, recipe to come soon)
Cook box of lasagna as directed on box. I prefer to leave it a bit al dente though since I will get cooked in the oven. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix ricotta cheese and 1 large egg together. At this point while my noodles are cooking I line everything I need to make the roll ups out on the counter.
Once noodles are cooked strain and run under cold water. I pull the noodles apart and hang them over the edge of the colander in order to keep them from sticking together. Line several noodles up next to each other on a cutting board. This is where you start the layering process.
Take a heaping tablespoon of ricotta cheese mixture and spread it out on each noodle. Next top with chopped up meatballs. You can go as heavy or light as you want when layering here. I love ricotta so I am always a bit heavy handed with it…but it’s up to you, they’re going to be yummy no matter what. Next top each noodle with the mozzarella and parmesan cheese and a little bit of sauce. Not too much sauce here, you don’t want the noodles drenched in sauce, and in the end we’ll put more sauce on top of them so don’t worry about them getting dry.
In a baking dish (like a 9x11 pyrex) spoon a couple tablespoons of sauce and spread it out making sure to cover the bottom of the entire dish.
Start laying your lasagna rolls into dish. Keep them tight together if possible in order to ensure they stay nicely rolled up.
Continue process until all noodles are filled, rolled, and placed in baking dish. Top rolls with sauce, and a little bit of mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Cook in oven uncovered for 20-30 minutes. Everything is already cooked so really you’re just waiting for all the sauce/cheese to melt together and for the cheese on the top of the dish to get a little brown
Let cool for about 5 minutes before you serve. And enjoy!
