Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Cream Cheese Lasagna Roll-ups

from Rebecca and blogchef.net
I found two recipes I wanted to try and combined them
The picture above was taken after they had set up a bit, so sorry it isn't pretty. But the taste... the taste was pretty good! ***Variation at bottom of post.

12 lasagna noodles, cooked about half way
Favorite spaghetti sauce (homemade or in a jar)
1 lb hamburger, browned and drained
OR
1 lb italian sausage, browned and drained

Filling:
1 pkg cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 cups sour cream
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
2 tsp parsley
1/4 cup chopped spinach
Salt and pepper

Mix spaghetti sauce and hamburger/sausage together and put half of the mixture on the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Preheat oven to 375.
Boil lasagna noodles until they are half done. (I always cook 1 or 2 extra in case they tear really bad or I have extra filling.) Then spread the noodles out on a piece of aluminum foil to let the water dry off a bit. Meanwhile, make the filling.

Mix sour cream and cream cheese together until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix. Spread a thin, but still generous, layer over each noodle.Carefully roll up and place seam side down in the pan. Repeat until all noodles are rolled up. I only made a half batch for my family of 4 (we have two small children so I knew they would only eat 1).Spoon remaining sauce over rolls. (Done after the picture was taken.)

Bake for 30-35 minutes at 375. At about the last 8 or 9 minutes, sprinkle mozzarella over the tops and finish cooking. Make sure cheese is melted. Dish up and enjoy with your favorite garlic bread and veggie.

**Note: Tonight, I just made this as a quick dish with a jar of spaghetti sauce, no spinach and no meat. However, I do think meat is an excellent addition to the dish as well as the spinach. Next time I make it I think that I'll add maybe 1/2 cup of diced tomatoes to the sauce. I think it would be really tasty that way. However, it was still good as a quick dish, but it could have been amazing with some meat, spinach, and the tomatoes.
***Variation:
1 1/4 cups cottage cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 beaten egg
Pinch of onion salt
Sprinkle of pepper
Couple of dashes of parsley
Mix up and spread 1/4 cup across each noodle. Makes 6 roll-ups.