Lasagna Roll-Ups

I have been spying this recipe for a while now...wondering if it was really as easy as it looked and if there were improvements I could make to the recipe. My husband was gone for 5 days on a training week for work, so I wanted to make him one of his favorite meals, with a twist and I finally dove into the following recipe. I must say, it turned out great and we'll be keeping my changes and making it again!

Lasagna Roll-Ups

8-12 Lasagna Noodles, cooked
4 Cups meat sauce (homemade, or 1 jar store bought)
1 24 oz container cottage cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 teaspoon each of basil, bay leaves, oregano
1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
1 Tablespoon garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.Mix cottage cheese with 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, then add basil, bay leaves, oregano, Italian seasoning and garlic powder, stir well. Set aside. Make sure lasagna noodles are cooked, almost to the point of al-dente, but still firm, about 8 minutes in a rolling boil. Take from boiling water and place in a dish with cool water so they do not stick. Spray a 9X13 casserole pan, then lay one lasagna noodle flat in bottom. Top with meat sauce, then cheese mixture. Roll up noodle and place seam down in dish. Repeat with remaining noodles. Top roll-ups with extra meat sauce. Bake at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and add remaning shredded cheese. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Pull from oven and let sit 5 minutes. Serve with a side salad and garlic bread!


Hubby's Rating: Love it! He is a big lasagna fan. He said this hit the spot and he loved the leftovers just as much today!

My Take: I love lasagna too, but it's just a pain to make and can be expensive with all the ingredients I add (using my mom's traditional recipe). I like doing the crock pot lasagna because it's easy--but there is always tons left over so I tend to save that for company. I'm glad I found this recipe! I made 10 roll-ups last night. We each had 2 for dinner last night, then 2 for lunch today. I froze the remaining two to pull for a lunch sometime in the next two weeks or so. I can see myself making a pan of this again very soon and saving some for friends of ours that just had a baby. What made this really easy last night was I used meat sauce that I had prepared in the crock pot and froze 2 or so weeks ago. It had hamburg and sweet Italian sausage. If you want to keep the costs down on this easy lasagna, you could easily cut the meat (which I might do to make a meatless Monday version). I am also looking forward to sneaking some spinach in to this next time for extra nutrients. I'm fiddling with the idea of using the basic recipe but using alfredo sauce, chicken and spinach, too.

Recipe Adapted From TasteofHome.com.