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22 June 2009

A Taste of Italy


Happy belated Father's Day! I spent the whole day yesterday at my parents' house. I had had a busy weekend so I was grateful to be able to just hang out and cook dinner for my family.


Since my mom's birthday fell during the week I decided that we should have her party over the weekend. It just so happened that we were going to a wedding of a family friend on Saturday which left us with Father's Day. My mom made breakfast (biscuits and gravy, hash browns, omelets...YUM!), and I made dinner (lasagna roll ups). I even made an Italian Cream cake for my momma's birthday cake (I know it's a heresy, but I was sick of making chocolate cake so I suggested something different).
The lasagna is super easy, and when it's been rolled, it's even easier to serve (and you end up with just the right amount of food). One family friend brought a salad, and another family friend brought garlic bread. We also had spicy Italian sausage to round out the meal.
I doubled the recipe and wasn't too smart about it. instead of cooking one box of noodles at a time and removing them when they were al dente, I insisted on cooking all of it at once. This made quite a few noodles rip apart and become unusable. It still tasted good, but learn from my mistake and only cook one box of noodles at once if you end up having to double the recipe.
Lasagna Roll ups
Recipe from All Recipes, adapted by me
1 lb ground beef (the original calls for tofu)
1 (16 ounce) package uncooked lasagna noodles
1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
1 Tbl Basil
1 Tbl Oregano
1 clove garlic, minced (use more or less depending on your taste)
1 (28 ounce) jar pasta sauce
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Meanwhile, brown ground beef and drain. Allow to cool.
  2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles for 5 to 8 minutes, or until just slightly underdone; drain and rinse.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, mix together mozzarella cheese, spices, garlic, ricotta cheese, and ground beef.
  4. Lay out a noodle. Spread a layer of the cheese mixture on the noodle, then add a thin layer of sauce. Roll the noodle up, and place seam side down in a 13x9 pan. Repeat for other noodles. Use any extra mozzarella or if you have Parmesan on hand to top.
  5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F (175 degree C) oven for 30 min, or until hot and bubbly.

6 comments:

Peanut Butter Swirl said...

happy belated fathers day :D
that garlic bread looks amazing !

stephchows said...

mmmmmmm love roll ups!!! Yours look super tasty :)

Sabine, La Marquise des anges said...

they look wonderful !!! and this garlic bread ... it is almost like I can smell his dekicious fragrance from here ...

Sunshine said...

Peanut Butter Swirl - Thanks for stopping by! I wish I could say that I made the garlic bread, but it came that way from the grocery store. It was yummy though.

Stephchows - Thank you! They tasted pretty good, and everyone seemed to like them.

Sabine - Thanks, darlin! I'm going to try my hand at making my own butter and then adding garlic to it so I can make some real garlic bread.

Nurit said...

We're not big lasagna fans here. But lasagna rolls I love! Great idea.

Sunshine said...

Nurit - Thank you! My sister and my dad don't care for lasagna either, but my mom and I love it. This just makes it so much easier to serve.