photo courtesy of iVillage.com
It’s easy to get in a rut around dinnertime.
How many times have you scratched your head trying to diversify your dinner options only to fall back on the same boring pasta dish?
At the end of the day, there’s nothing more frustrating than having tired cranky kids who refuse to eat what’s being served.
Don’t fret, sometimes that elusive new dish is just a tiny tweak away…
For winter break, I allowed myself the latitude to close the kitchen—not literally but figuratively. We were traveling on a couple of short trips throughout the two weeks so I didn’t necessarily want to stock the fridge only to have the items spoil while we were away. So, I alleviated any self-inflicted pressure to cook up more elaborate meals and I resorted to a couple carry out meals combined with some basic dishes for the upcoming dinners.
Not long after I staked my claim for my two weeks off in the kitchen, I serendipitously received an email from iVillage featuring their most popular recipes from 2012 . The Chicken Cheese Lasagna Roll Ups caught my eye as a welcomed spin to the traditional lasagna dish (which we eat at least once or twice every two weeks).
It’s simple to make and creates enough of a diversion from lasagna that my kids showed no resistance at all–I’m sure they liked the idea of eating something with “roll up” in the name.
Lucky for me, it contains all the foods my kids adore: chicken breast, cheese, tomato sauce and noodles. And, because they’re roll ups, each person gets an individual serving. What’s better than that?
Roll-ups, pre-bake
While the recipe isn’t involved at all, I tweaked it by removing the Ricotta cheese and substituting it with shredded mozzarella cheese. And, after only 10 minutes of prep time, I rolled up the noodles and placed them in the oven to bake. Try not to get over eager and over stuff your roll ups like I did, or else you’ll make a big mess when transferring the stuffed noodles onto your baking dish.
Despite the mess, not only did my kids thoroughly enjoy their personal lasagna roll ups, my husband scarfed his down too. So, be sure to make lots of extras. I promise, you won’t have any leftovers.
Hope you enjoy.
Chicken and Cheese Lasagna Roll Ups
Yields: 8 servings
Ingredients:
- 3 cups cooked chopped chicken
- 1 cup shredded mozarella cheese
- 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup milk
- 8 lasagna noodles. cooked and drained
- 2 cups spaghetti sauce
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In medium bowl, combine chicken, cheeses, milk, and pepper.
- Spread 1/2 cup mixture on each lasagna noodle; roll jelly-roll fashion.
- In a 13 by 9-inch baking dish, spread 1 cup spaghetti sauce.
- Arrange lasagna rolls, seam-side down in sauce in baking dish.
- Top with remaining spaghetti sauce and cover.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until hot.
- Serve, if desired, with additional Parmesan cheese.
Love new recipes and this one is truly different, pinned it looking forward to making this, thanks for sharing.