VEGETARIAN LASAGNA ROLL UPS

Only a few things can be more comforting than lasagna. I love lasagna but the preparation and layering can be a little time consuming. Instead, I love making lasagna roll-ups. The same ingredients, but much faster to assemble. And there’s no messy cutting at the end!

Makes 5 servings.

What you’ll need:

-10 lasagna sheets

-2 cups of sliced mushrooms (don’t slice them too thin, or they will disappear. You want them to still have some bite.)

-1 medium red pepper, diced

-1 medium green pepper, diced

-1 jalapeno

-1 onion, diced

-4 cloves garlic, minced

-1 jar of strained tomatoes or crushed tomatoes

-½ cup water

-4 handfuls of baby spinach

-1 cup of ricotta cheese

-1 cup of grated asiago cheese or mozzarella

-2 tsps of chopped, fresh basil

- 2 tsps of red chili flakes

-1 tsp of Italian seasoning -1 tsp of dried basil

-salt and black pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare the lasagna sheets by cooking until they’re al dente.

2. Once cooked, wash in cold water and lay them flat. This prevents them from sticking to each other.

For the sauce:

1.In a little oil, cook the onions, jalapeno and peppers until they begin softening

2. Add the mushrooms, garlic, dried basil, italian seasoning, red chili flakes, salt and pepper

3. Once fragrant, add the strained tomatoes (about half the jar) and water

4. Cover and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Then turn off the heat, add 1 cup of spinach and stir until spinach has wilted. Let the sauce cool slightly.

For the ricotta mixture:

1.Add 3 cups of baby spinach and a touch of water to a pan. Cook until spinach has wilted. Press the spinach and get rid of the liquid.

2.Mix together ricotta cheese, fresh basil, the wilted spinach, salt and pepper.

Assembly :

-Spread about 1 ladle of sauce into the bottom of a deep baking dish.

-On each lasagna noodle, spread about 1 tbsp of the ricotta mixture and top with some sauce. Do not overfill the noodles.

-Roll up the lasagna and place into a deep baking dish. Repeat with all noodles.

-Pour the remaining sauce on top, and then sprinkle each roll up with some mozzarella cheese.

-Cover dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!