Well, on top of being a great friend, she is also pretty handy in the kitchen. And while I give her a hard time about the sparseness of her other Pinterest boards, this girl's Recipe Board will put any cookbook to shame. So it only made sense to ask her to write about one of her Pinterest-inspired dishes while I'm wrapping up a couple of projects of my own. Take it away, Fer Fer!
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Hello
to all of you Carli's blog lovers out there!
My name is Jennifer, and Carli kindly asked if I would be willing to
contribute a food recipe portion to her blog page. And since I have been a
doting friend of hers for the past three years, I couldn't find a reason to say
no. Could her asking me have something to do with the fact that I have hundreds of
food pins and maybe five random other pins on pinterest?? Perhaps. So bare with me, for this is the first
organized thing I have done in, hummmm well.... a long time. Enjoy!
I
am making Spinach Lasagna Rolls. I have found several recipes for them on
pinterest but this one looked the easiest, yummiest, and healthiest. Here is the original recipe and you can find the OP here.
- 9 lasagna noodles
- 10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
- 15 oz. fat free ricotta cheese
- 1/2 c. grated Parmesan
- 1 egg
- salt and fresh pepper
- 32 oz. tomato sauce
- 9 tbs. (about 3 oz.) part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
First things first, boil the water and give it a good
helping of salt. I also add a little extra virgin olive oil to mine so the
noodles don't stick together. Once the water reaches a boil throw in your
lasagna noodles. I added more than 9 noodles because I thought my dish would
hold more than that and I was right. I got 10 rolls to fit in mine. Hey, the
more the merrier! I think I actually put 11 or 12 noodles total into the
boiling water though, because I was afraid I would have some tear when I took
them out but luckily I didn't. Guess the EVOO helped. And, as you can see not all of them fit in
the water at first but as they cook they slowly slide down into the pot. So don't panic, I already did it for you and
it was okay. Whew!
Next
dump the ricotta cheese, spinach, parmesan cheese, egg, and salt and pepper in
a bowl and mix it all together. If you
wanted to, you could even add a little minced garlic or garlic salt here.
Hummm, I think I'll do that next time actually.
That sounds pretty good. It will look like this:
Pre-Mix
Post-Mix
Once the noodles are cooked to your own liking, (you know, al dente or otherwise) drain the water and then place the noodles onto some wax paper. They will be very hot still so I used some tongs to help me out here.
Next spoon about 1/3 cup of the cheese and spinach mixture onto each noodle and spread evenly all the way down.
 |
| Ooohh...lookin' good already! |
Now I take the rest of the opened jar of spaghetti sauce and
pour it over the rolls and then repeat this process with at least 1/2 of the
other jar of spaghetti sauce. Add however much sauce you like. The whole jar
even if you're really feeling "saucy"!
We are almost there! Finally top each roll with the
shredded mozzarella cheese. Again, add as much as you like. I went for it and
added the whole block. I got the kind you shred yourself but the pre-shredded
stuff that comes in the bag will do the trick too.
Finally, bake for 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees.
When it's all done it will look like this:
Ta-daaa!!!
I served mine with a summer vegetable mix
and of course, lots and lots of garlic bread. So good! It was so hearty that my husband, the ultimate
carnivore, didn't even ask "where's the meat". Ahhh, success!!!
Enjoy!
In a nutshell...
1. I used 10 or 12 noodles just in case some of them tore
2. Couldn't find fat-free ricotta so I used part-skim
3. I used two jars of tomato sauce - one for the dish and one for dipping ;)
4. Ended up using the whole 8 oz. block of mozzarella. Oopsie.
Tips:
1. Add a little EVOO to your water when boiling noodles to alleviate stickiness
2. Don't be afraid to change the recipe to suit your family and tastes
Bottom Line: Sooo good and tasty with relatively little prep. I will be adding this into my meal plan rotation!
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I will be too! Thanks, Fer Fer, for the great pics and taking the time to write for this is me, now. Tell us what you think! Leave a comment on your way out please. And thanks for stopping by!
**Note: For those wondering (ahem, Auntie Wobin) I have been busting my tail trying to finish my "cheap" wooden pallet project and have been studiously taking notes and pics of the whole process. I promise, promise, promise it will be worth the wait cuz that little gem was a doozy!
Come again soon to see the results!
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