Lasagna Roll-Ups

I decided to make something pretty simple and quick tonight.  I hadn’t made lasagna roll-ups in awhile, so I decided it sounded like a good Monday night dinner. I’m sure there are plenty of lasagna roll-up recipes out there, but I don’t really follow a set recipe. I’ve made enough lasagna and manicotti before to have a pretty good handle on what goes into the filling.  Here’s what I ended up with: 

Cook 10 lasagna noodles according to package.  In the meantime, mix the following:

15 oz container of low fat ricotta

1 cup shredded mozzarella (part skim)

1 cup shredded parmesan

3 cloves minced garlic

1 egg

salt & pepper to taste

When the noodles are finished, spread them out on a piece of foil.  Place some spoonfuls of the ricotta mixture on the noodles and spread down each noodle.  It doesn’t have to be precise, as evidenced by the picture below:

Coat the bottom of an 8x8 pan with a little of your favorite spaghetti sauce.  Starting at the end of the noodle, roll each noodle up. 

Arrange in the pan.  Cover with the spaghetti sauce.  Cover the pan with foil and bake at 375 for 30 minutes.  At the end of the 30 minutes, remove foil.  Sprinkle some mozzarella on top and back for another 5-10 minutes. 

If you are cooking for someone who seems to think every meal should contain meat (like my husband), you can sprinkle some cooked ground hamburger or sausage on the noodles before rolling them up.  I cooked about half the roll-ups tonight with a little bit of hamburger. 

You may notice that I used low fat mozzarella and ricotta.  I’ve started a habit of doing this with any recipe that calls for the two.   Maybe I’m just used to it, but I don’t think it sacrifices quality.  It also makes the dish a little healthier.  (For those of you keeping track, the purchase of mozzarella for this recipe brings the total number of cheese types in my fridge up to 18.)

My secret ingredient this time was the spaghetti sauce.  I used some Garozzo’s Sugo sauce.  If any of you are ever in the Kansas City area, you have to stop and eat at Garozzo’s.  I was more than pleased to find out that they bottle and sell their signature Sugo sauce. 

We decided to pair our lasagna roll-ups with a starter salad of baby greens, blue cheese crumbles, and balsamic vinaigrette. 

We weren’t the only ones who enjoyed supper.  My “helpers” are always excited when I cook something involving shredded cheese.  I’m a pretty messy cook, so there’s about a 90% chance some of the shredded cheese will end up raining down on them.  They spend a good part of the prep time at my feet, staring up at me and licking their chops. 

I have to admit they’re pretty handy with the clean up.