Toddlers love fun food and my husband happens to love my Italian cooking. How do I combine the two? By making lasagna, with a twist! Lasagna roll ups are a fun take on traditional Italian flavors with a shape your kids will love. As a blind mom, it’s also a recipe I find very versatile, because the ricotta cheese mixture used for the filling can be implemented into other pasta dishes, like Stuffed Shells or Manicotti. Lasagna noodles come in two different varieties, “traditional” and “oven ready.” “Traditional” means you are going to boil the pasta noodles as you would any other pasta, until they become al dente. “Oven Ready” means just that, they are ready for the oven right out of the box, and you can bake noodles without boiling them.
Blind Mom Tip: Choosing Your Lasagna Noodles
Get the “Oven Ready” style. It will cut down on your prep time. Drop them in boiling water for about 4 to 5 minutes. Use tongs or a fork to keep them from sticking together while in the pot. Drain them immediately, then refill the pot with cold water and throw in a few ice-cubes. Shocking the pasta with cold water stops cooking process internally and prevents any mushy texture.
Now, grab your throw away aluminum pan, and coat the bottom with your favorite jarred sauce. As the noodles cool down (so you can safely handle them), move onto making the filling.
In a large bowl, add your Ricotta, two eggs, and 1 cup of grated parmesan.
Next, add your spices, ½ to 1 tablespoon of salt and pepper (depending on your taste), and 1 tablespoon of parsley, basil, and oregano.
Now, mix, mix, mix. Once you feel it’s well combined, add about ¾ of your bag of shredded mozzarella cheese.
Mix again. Now, let’s get back to those noodles.
Dump the water out of your pot and bring the noodles to your work station.
Lay one noodle on a paper plate.
Using a tablespoon, put two dollops of the ricotta mixture on the noodle, about two fingers lengths apart. Now roll your noodle. Place it in your sauce lined pan and continue the process.
The tighter you roll, the more noodles you will have. But remember, you don’t want to roll too tightly, otherwise, you will ooze out some of that yummy delicious cheese mixture.
Once you’ve gotten all your roll-ups done,coat the top with another layer of sauce, and sprinkle your remaining mozzarella on top. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour. If you’re making ahead (like I normally do) and bringing your roll ups from the fridge to the oven, bake 1.5 to 2 hours, or until warm and bubbly.
What You Need
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Box of Lasagna
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Aluminum Pan
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Aluminum Foil
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1 Jar of Sauce
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Filling Ingredients (See Below)
Filling Ingredients
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30 ounces, Ricotta Cheese (I prefer Polly O.)
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2 Eggs
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1 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese (Nothing fancy, the stuff in the jar is fine.)
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½ to 1 Tablespoon Salt
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½ to 1 Tablespoon Pepper
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1 Tablespoon Parsley
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1 Tablespoon Basil
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1 Tablespoon Oregano
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1 8 Ounce Bag of Shredded Mozzarella, ¾ of the bag goes into the mixture. ¼ must be reserved to top your lasagna. (I prefer Sargento.)
