Italian food is amazing. It may be carbohydrate amazing, but it's still amazing. One of my dreams is to go to Italy, visit the vineyards and Venice, and eat. Eat all day long. Eat and not worry about my waistline. Spaghetti, Fettuccine, Linguine, and Lasagna. Lasagna has to be my favorite of all. You can make it in so many different ways - white, red, meat, vegi, cheese, etc. But I have a flavor that is my particular favorite - cheese with spinach.
I've tried it in a couple of different ways, and I think this is the best. Using a variety of white cheeses gives you a melty goodness without the oils. Eggs help hold the cheeses together. I'll apologize right now, but for this recipe, I opt for frozen spinach. Why, you ask? Because it is simply easier to work with and blends into the cheese mixture so much better. And I really love these roll-ups because they're already portioned! No cutting into the pasta, hoping for an even cut without all the cheese getting pulled out. It's ready to go.
Now for the sauce. I should tell you that I've tried a variety of spaghetti sauces. Even homemade. My mom made and canned her own spaghetti sauce when I was growing up. If I had the patience for canning, I'd do the same. But until that time comes I'll use my favorite - Ragu. I love Ragu sauces because they aren't watered down. When you pour them onto pastas, you don't have a puddle of watered down sauce on your plate. They also have a great variety. For this dish, I used their Sundried Tomato and Sweet Basil variety. It really gave a great flavor to the cheese.
Lasagna Roll-ups
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups Mozzarella Cheese
1 container Ricotta Cheese
1 cup Parmesan Cheese
2 eggs
1 package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. fresh parsley
Dash black pepper
8 lasagna noodles, cooked according to package instructions
1 jar spaghetti sauce
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread 1/3 of the spaghetti sauce on bottom of 9x13 pan.
2. Mix cheese (minus 1/2 cup of mozzarella), eggs, spinach, salt, parsley and pepper together in a large bowl until spinach is separated and mixed in well.
3. Lay lasagna noodles out on wax paper (to prevent noodles from sticking to counter). Spread about 1/2 cup of mixture across each, making sure it is nice and even. Roll lasagna, not too tight but not loose, and place in pan with flap down. Repeat with remaining lasagna, leaving a small gap between each roll.
4. Spread remaining spaghetti sauce over the tops of the rolls and sprinkle remaining mozzarella cheese over. Place in oven and cook, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.
Serves 8