No Mess Lasagna Rolls!

I love lasagna! My mom always called her version "the poor man's lasagna" because there was nothing fancy about it. I've taken hers and over the past few years tweaked it to make it a little heartier. What I had not tried, was making lasagna rolls. I had seen them all the time on various food blogs I read, but for some reason they scared me. I was afraid they would be messy or hard to keep together. Boy I was wrong! Gone are the days of Tony or I slicing into a beautiful lasagna dish and making a mess to try to get the layers out perfectly in order to have a pretty presentation. This will now be my go-to way to make lasagna.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of lasagna noodles cooked according to directions.
• 1 jar of favorite spaghetti sauce
• 1 pound of ground beef (or your favorite ground meat)
• 1/2 of a yellow onion diced
• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
• 1 cup of low fat ricotta
• 1 cup of low fat cottage cheese
• 1 bag of spinach
• a few handfuls of your favorite Italian shredded cheeses

Directions:

While noodles are cooking, heat large skillet over medium heat with a few splashes of olive oil. Place spinach in pan and let cook until wilted (5-7 minutes and you may want to put half the bag in first until it starts to wilt and then the rest after that because spinach is some fluffy stuff and tends to spill over the pan). After all spinach is wilted remove from heat and let rest for a few minutes. Cook ground beef, diced onion, and minced garlic and drain fat. Add in spaghetti sauce and reduce to a slow simmer. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

In a food processor (or blender) mix in the cottage cheese, spinach, and ricotta until well blended. I then laid out three lasagna noodles at a time and started by spreading my spinach and cheese mixture on the bottom. I followed up with the meat sauce, and sprinkled some of the shredded cheese on top.

Then, starting at one side, slowly roll up each noodle. and place in lasagna tray.

Continue steps until all noodles are filled, rolled, and placed in lasagna tray. After this you will want to grab a spoon and spoon some spaghetti sauce from the jar (unless you still have some meat sauce left, then use that) over the noodles to keep them nice and moist and from burning while in the oven. Sprinkle cheese over the top until they look about like this:

I made the entire box of noodles so I had to get a small casserole dish to fit all the little guys.

Cover tray with foil and place in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until sauce is bubbly. Remove foil and allow to cook for 2-3 more minutes (or more depending on your oven). You will love how easy these guys are to serve!

I imagine this recipe will freeze well or you could store it in your fridge minus the cooking step for 1-2 days. Here's a great guide to make ahead meals and freezer friendly tips. I'm going to try to perfect freezing ahead this summer to make my life much easier! Again, you can do this with whatever lasagna recipe you love! You could skip the meat, substitute eggplant, etc. If you make it, let me know how it went!