Lasagna Roll Ups

After a not so wonderful attempt at making curried chick peas the other day (I decided against blogging about them...and I was lazy lol) it was refreshing to have made something so easy and yet so spectacular today!!


We've been eating fairly vegetarian lately and it's been interesting.  I miss meat and potatoes but a budget is a budget.  The chicken needs to last us for a little while longer and we only have two breasts left.


Anyway, these lasagna roll ups are fantastic!!  They don't take up much room, are super easy to make, and were extremely filling.  The best part?  We only used 6 lasagna noodles to make this as opposed to using a whole box to make the traditional lasagna...and they tasted the same!


So with my highly recommended dish comes the recipe:
Ingredients
serving size: 2

• 6 Lasagna noodles
• 15 oz ricotta
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
•  1/4 cup Parmesan
• 1 egg
• 10 oz frozen spinach
• marinara sauce
• salt and pepper to taste 

Instructions:
1: Get a large pot of water boiling with a dash of salt. When it comes to a full boil, add the lasagna noodles and cook for about 12-15 minutes. When they are finished cooking, drain.

2: While the noodles are boiling, prepare the filling. Thaw the package of frozen spinach in the microwave and then squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible. Combine the spinach in a bowl with the ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, egg, freshly grated pepper and about 1/4 tsp of salt. Mix until well combined.

3: When the noodles and filling are ready to go, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare a glass casserole dish by spraying with non-stick spray.

4: On a clean surface, lay out a few noodles at a time. Place a few tablespoons of filling on each noodle and spread to cover from edge to edge. Make sure to spread it all the way to the edges of the noodles.

5: Roll the noodles up and place in the prepared casserole dish. Repeat until all of your filling is gone. Pour the marinara sauce over the rolled noodles making sure to cover all surfaces. The sauce will keep the noodles hydrated and soft while baking.

6: Cover the dish in foil and bake for 30 minutes.


If you want to see this recipe in pictures, head over to budgetbytes where I originally got the recipe.


Highly recommend!!

Pizza Stuffed Shells

It was an interesting day today...Garry was at work and I had no idea what to make with the few supplies we had left.  I was browsing through some ideas and came across this one...pizza stuffed shells.  Sure, why not?  Only problem was I had no recipe...this was from my own head.  So I very tentatively began to cook.


The results?  Really good actually! 


Since this was from my brain I was kinda winging it and I don't know exact measurements but I'll do my best to guesstimate.


Ingredients
Serving size: 2

• 6 jumbo stuffed shells
• 1/4 cup mozzarella 
• 1/4 cup cheddar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 TBSP flour
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 12 slices of pepperoni

Instructions

1. Cook the jumbo shells as directed on the package

2. In a skillet, mix the two cheeses and the milk together, using a whisk on medium heat.  Let the mixture bubble for a minute to thicken the sauce.

3. In a separate pan crack the egg and mix together the black pepper and nutmeg.  Once the cheese mixture is thick, mix it together with the egg, black pepper, and nutmeg.

4.  Once the mixture is a sauce, add the flour and whisk together.

5. Pick up each shell and use a spoon to put the cheese sauce into the shell (2 scoops is plenty) then place two pepperoni into the shell.  

6. Place each shell on a baking pan.  Heat the oven to 350

7. Cook the shells for 10 minutes and then remove.  Serve with tomato sauce, Parmesan, and basil

Yummy!  My own creation too...I was absolutely improvising for the fact that we had no ricotta-eep!

Mac N Cheese

It's mac and cheese day!  Who doesn't love good, homemade mac and cheese?  I'll admit though, I do love out of the box...but that gets expensive...and it doesn't taste as good as the real thing.


Ingredients
Serving size: 6

• Butter (4 TBSP)
• Milk (2 1/2 cups)
• Flour (1/4 cup)
• Salt
• Nutmeg (1/8 tsp)
• Black Pepper (1/8 tsp)
• Cayenne pepper (1/8 tsp)
• Cheddar cheese (3 cups)
• Mozzarella cheese (2 cups)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and butter/spray a casserole dish

2. Boil pasta as directed on the package

3.  In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, heat milk. In the same pot you used for boiling the pasta, melt remaining 6 tablespoons butter over medium heat. When butter bubbles, add flour. Cook, whisking, 1 minute.

4. While whisking, slowly pour in hot milk. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick.

5. Remove pan from heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper,cheddar cheese, and mozzarella cheese

6. Pour mixture into prepared dish. Sprinkle remaining cheddar cheese and breadcrumbs over top. Bake until browned on top, about 30 minutes.

Yummy mac and cheese for a comfortable night in!  And we made 6 servings so we can eat tomorrow since I won't have time to cook :-S