Mexican Lasagna

This is a repost of a recipe I put on here 2 years ago! (I can't believe this blog is that old!) It is a family favorite but I never remember to take pictures. Super easy, a kid favorite and if there are leftovers, it reheats well. Plus, it can be made ahead and frozen. My kind of meal!

*See variations at the bottom of post

from a card at a grocery store

1 ½ lbs lean ground beef
1 pkg Taco Seasoning -I just do ½ pkg otherwise it can be a little too spicy
1 tsp Lawry’s Seasoned salt
1 cup diced tomatoes, fresh or canned
1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce
½ of a 4oz can of diced green chiles
–I put the other half in a Ziploc bag and freeze it for later. It works really well.
1 cup ricotta cheese – I use cottage cheese
2 eggs, beaten
10 corn tortillas
2 ½ cups (10 oz.) grated Monterey jack cheese –I just use whatever cheese I have

**Note: the pictures are of a 1/2 batch. It makes just the right amount for my little family of 4. You could make a whole batch in 2 different pans and freeze one for another time.

In a large skillet, brown ground beef, stirring until cooked through; drain fat. Add taco seasoning mix, seasoned salt, tomatoes, tomato sauce and chiles; blend well. (I leave out the chiles because my two little kids don't like the spice. But before we had kids, the chiles were in and they're great!) Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes.

In small bowl, combine ricotta cheese and eggs. (You can leave the eggs out and just do the ricotta/cottage cheese. You'll just need a little more. I don't even measure anymore... I just make sure the tortillas are covered sufficiently.)

In bottom of 13x9x2 inch baking dish, spread ½ of meat mixture.Top with ½ of tortillas;spread ½ of ricotta cheese mixture over tortillasand top with ½ of grated cheese.Repeat layering, ending with grated cheese.Bake, uncovered, in 350 oven 20-30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting into squares. I know it isn't pretty, it all got eaten before I got a picture! And after this picture, it was ALL GONE!

Variation:

For a half batch, I used 1lb hamburger, NO taco seasoning, 1/2 tsp Lawry's, ONE 14.5oz can diced tomatoes with chipotle chiles, 8oz tomato sauce, NO green chiles, NO eggs, cottage cheese, and extra thin corn tortillas. I liked it really well. Very easy having the tomatoes and chiles mixed together. It was the perfect spicy-ness for my family without losing any flavor. I liked the thinner tortillas and it didn't overwhelm the dish at all like some tortillas have in the past. Very good. Will probably do it this way from now on!

Chicken Alfredo Lasagna Roll Ups

MMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!! This was Olive Garden worthy!!! (in my opinion!!)

I sort of mixed things up on a Lasagna Roll Up recipe... I had the Idea from the Chicken Lasagna... but it really is nothing like it! Try it and you will see!! I found the recipe for the Alfredo sauce here on foodnetwork.com and the way to cook the chicken also... from there it just became what it is.

The Chicken:
2 large *thaw* chicken breasts sliced (fajita style)

2 *fresh* cloves garlic, minced

1 T Olive Oil

1 1/2 C. FRESH Spinach leaves

Heat oil in pan with garlic until the aroma builds... Do not burn or over brown. Cook until chicken is fully cooked then add the Spinach and stir until the leaves are wilted into it.

The Sauce:

4T Butter

1 clove fresh garlic, minced

2T flour

2 C Cream

1/2 C. milk

1C Fresh grated parmesan

In a medium sauce pan heat butter and garlic and add flour once butter is melted and aroma of garlic is building. Add the Cream and milk and stir then add the parmesan and bring to a boil and continue to stir frequently over a medium low heat as it boils and thickens. (I added a dash of pepper to it as well)

The Pasta/Filling:

24 oz (1LB 8oz) cottage cheese

1 egg

1/4 C Parmesan cheese

Mozzarella cheese

Parsley

salt and pepper

9 lasagna noodles cooked al dente

Mix the cottage cheese, egg, parmesan, mozzarella, and a dash of salt and pepper and Parsley til it looks good. Spoon on the cooked noodles and roll up and place in 9X13 pan with a little sauce spread on the bottom. **You will have left over filling but only 9 rollups fit in the pan**

Mix some sauce into the chicken... just enough to spoon on top of each roll up (you will have left over sauce I still had about a 1/2 cup or just a little more left over) and then top with a little more parmesan and mozzarella cheese and diced tomatoes for color (I added the tomatoes after the picture was taken)

Cook in oven at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Until Cheese is starting to golden and sauce is bubbling.

Let sit for 10 minutes after removal from the oven. Serve and Enjoy!

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.

Chicken Lasagna

from: http://comeandpeek.blogspot.com/2008/05/weeknight-easy-chicken-lasagna.html

This is a great recipe. I didn't want "recipe poach" so I have given credit with a link to the author's website. She has some other great recipes, too.

Here is the recipe with my changes:

Chicken cooked, and shredded (it calls for a whole chicken, but I just did 2 large chicken breasts)
9 lasagna noodles, cooked (it calls for 12, but it was just too much noodle for us)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cottage cheese (it calls for ricotta cheese)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 tsp minced garlic
chopped spinach, cooked (optional)
fresh or dried cilantro (I use parsley if I don't have any cilantro)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (shredded or powder)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Mix sour cream, soups, cottage cheese, garlic, spinach and cilantro. Put small amount on bottom of pan so that the noodles don't stick. Place 3 noodles on the bottom. Put 1/3 of mixture over noodles. Put 1/3 of chicken over mixture. Put 1/4 of cheese over chicken. Layer 2 more times so that you have 3 layers. On the top, put remaining cheese and parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes to set up before serving.

This dish is REALLY great the next day as leftovers. My family really liked this dish and it was nice to try something different. It was pretty easy, too.

Lo-fat tip: Substitute sour cream for yogurt sour cream.

Mock Lasagna

from my own brain

1 lb hamburger
1 jar spaghetti sauce
sliced olives
sliced mushrooms
cottage cheese
parmesan cheese
shredded cheese
mini lasagna noodles (or egg noodles or medium shells)

Cook hamburger with dried minced onions. Drain grease. Mix with spaghetti sauce. Cook noodles to desired tenderness.

Set all toppings on the table. We usually start with the noodles on the bottom and then pile on our desired toppings in the order we want. This is similar to the taco salad style of dishing up, but it is with lasagna toppings instead. This is a fun and really easy dinner. And if I am feeling especially lazy, I won't even do the hamburger and we'll just use the sauce plain. But it is good with hamburger or even ground sausage.

***Lo-Fat Tip: Use ground turkey. Add in cooked, sliced zucchini or squash in the sauce. Use whole grain noodles.