Veggie Lasagna Roll Ups

You know what’s delicious? Lasagna. You know what’s a pain in the ass to make? Lasagna. Enter, lasagna roll ups. Way easier than all that layering nonsense. Plus, then they’re already split up into perfect portion sizes.

Doesn’t it look healthy and delicious?

I just made this up, so really you can make the lasagna with whatever ingredients you have to hand.

Ingredients: (sorry, these aren’t really in order at all….short on time and extra brain power these days – shout out to my clinical girls)

2 1/2 cups diced onions
8 oz sliced baby bella mushrooms, diced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 pt grape tomatoes, quartered
3 cups fat free ricotta cheese
2 cups fat free/low fat cottage cheese
2 pkgs frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and drained
3 cups pasta sauce + 1 cup for finishing (I used homemade but a jar version would work fine if that’s easier)
1 cup reduced fat, shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Whole wheat lasagna noodles (1 box)

1. Cook the noodles according to package instructions (I threw some olive oil in the pot in the hopes that the noodles wouldn’t stick together as much.) Also, spray two 9 x 13 pans with non-stick spray and set aside.
2. In a large sauce pan, saute the onions, mushrooms, and garlic till they’re all soft. Add in the thawed and drained spinach and the diced tomatoes. Basically, put all your veggies in a pot. Then add in 3 cups of the pasta sauce and still till well combined and heated through.
3. In a mixing bowl, mix together the ricotta, cottage cheese, and half the mozzarella and half the Parmesan cheeses. I think I threw some salt and pepper in at this point. Also, this would be a good place to play with spices such as oregano and basil, so throw some of those in there if you’ve got ’em.
4. On a cutting board or clean counter, lay out noodles flat. On top of each noodle, layer some of the cheese mixture (I didn’t measure, but remember, you’re going to roll this up so keep it thinner than your instincts are telling you too). Then add a layer of the veggie mixture, again, thinner instead of thicker. Then, carefully roll up the noodle, keeping all the ingredients inside as best you can. Using a stiff, wide spatula, transfer the roll ups one at a time into the pans.

Should look something like this at this point.

5. On top of the roll ups, spread the extra 1 cup sauce and sprinkle on the extra mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses evenly. Also, distribute any leftover veggie mixture on there.

…and now it should be looking something like this….

6. Bake (covered in a preheated oven – 350 degrees) for 20 minutes. Then bump up the heat to 375 and baked uncovered for another ten to get the cheese melted and browned on top.

And….ta daa!!!

Pretty 🙂

When I added all the ingredients up and divided by the number of servings (I got 16 roll ups) it came out to under 200 calories a roll up – can’t beat that! These were great for taking to work the whole week. And just because I know the puppy pictures are the best part of the whole blog…..