Lasagna Roll-Ups

And so it came to pass that Claudia succumbed to the 3200 different versions of lasagna roll-ups on Pinterest. After noting that if I eat one strand of pasta my weight goes up three pounds, I knew that if I was going to give into my recent pasta craving, I wanted it a wee bit lightened up. (So I would gain five pounds instead of ten.) Plus - I loved the ease. All was in place before the family arrived and it goes into the oven just a mere twenty minutes before serving. I am not as young as I was when I started this blog in 2007. In fact some people insist I am almost eight years older. Anything that's easy becomes a close friend of mine.

I combined several recipes and somehow wound up with about seventeen roll-ups instead of twelve.  So depending on how you fill them - this feeds six-eight people. Oh - and I made the filling the night before.

Ingredients
Your favorite lasagna
4 cups of your favorite marinara sauce (you could go with 3 cups - but I have a saucy family)
2 eggs
2-1/2 cups ricotta cheese - drained
2-1/2 cups mixture of of shredded mozzarella, Parmesan (you could add asiago or provolone)
1 package spinach, thawed, drained and "dried"
1/4 teaspoon salt (I omitted - the cheese has enough salt for me)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon fresh nutmeg (you could up that a little bit)

1. Beat your eggs and ricotta. Add the other cheese and mix well. Add spinach, salt, pepper and nutmeg and mix well. (Can cover or put in fridge over night.)
2. Bring the marinara sauce (that you no doubt prepared ahead of time) to a simmer.
3. Boil noodles according to package directions. Lay them flat. Put about 1/3 cup of cheese mixture on each noodle - spreading it evenly over all. Repeat until noodles and mixture are used up.
4. Pour 1 cup of the marinara sauce into your baking dish.
5. Carefully roll up the lasagna noodles and place them seam side down in the baking dish.
6. Drizzle or dot each roll-up with some additional sauce. Add a little Parmesan if you like on top of each roll-up.
7. Bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for about 24 minutes. Allow to rest for five minutes and serve.

If you dwell with carnivores, you can certainly pass some meatballs and sausages on the side.

I've been living in this nebulous place called "semi-finalist." My last two adult plays have gotten a lot of attention and then been dropped at the last minute. It means one of two things:
- not right for theatre
- not ready yet

Because I don't give up on my plays (especially when I've worked on them for three years), I opt for the "not ready yet" reason. And keep working away - trying to get it ready.

But my "Italian sister" play had a delightful reading this winter - and I am thinking it will find a home.

Of course there's always the possibility that I would get better work done if I paid more attention to the words and less attention to the decoy on the computer.