A close family member of mine has to have back surgery in a couple of weeks so I wanted to make some easy-to-reheat food for her to have around during her recovery.  When I’m not feeling well I want comfort food so I decided lasagna would be a good fit!  I had some veggies to use-up from a different recipe (posting soon) so I created these sausage and vegetable lasagna roll-ups.  They turned-out to be a great mix of flavors and pretty easy to make (just a bit messy).

I froze them (I love freezer meals!) but you can assemble and cook same-day as well.  Feel free to play around with your favorite vegetables or sub-out the meat for ground beef or ground turkey as well.

I’m missing the mozzarella and minced garlic but you get the idea!

cooked ground sausage, marinara, and cooked vegetable mixtures

Ready to assemble!

Leave a little bit uncovered as the toppings will spread as you roll

Roll length-wise and place in pan seam-side down

I found it easiest to create an assembly line of sorts – layer all with ricotta, then meat, then roll, and repeat

top with marinara and mozzarella cheese, then you are done!

Ready for the freezer!

Enjoy!

Megan

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground sausage
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1tsp minced garlic
• 1-2 cups spinach
• 3-4 mushrooms, chopped
• 1 Jar of your favorite marinara/pasta sauce
• 1 15oz. container ricotta cheese (I used low fat)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp parsley flakes
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

• Bring one quart pot of water to a boil and add lasagna noodles.  Cook until al dente (10-12 minutes).  Drain, then set aside
• Head a skillet with 1/2 Tbl olive oil on medium heat then add diced onion and  minced garlic.  Cook until translucent, around 3 minutes
• Add the mushrooms and spinach, heat until the spinach is wilted and mushrooms are soft, around 3 minutes, set aside
• In the same pan, cook the sausage on medium heat until cooked thoroughly, roughly 7 minutes then drain
• Combine the sausage with 1/2 of the marinara sauce and onion mixture in a medium bowl
• Combine the ricotta, garlic powder, parsley, basil, and oregano until mixed together
• Now you are ready to assemble (good time for a wine-refill break)!
• Cover the bottom of your pan with half of the remaining marinara sauce
• Lay the cooked lasagna noodles on a flat surface then spread the ricotta mixture over the noodle leaving 1-2 inches uncovered on the end (1-2 spoon fulls – you don’t want to cover the whole noodle because it will fall out when you roll it)
• Next add a layer of the meat/veggie mixture on top of the ricotta (2-3 spoon fulls over the same covered portion of the noodle)
• Roll the noodle length-wise starting on the covered side and place in the pan (seam-side down).  Repeat until you have used all of the lasagna noodles
• Top the roll-ups with the remaining marinara and sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese
• Assembly done!  Bake at 350 degrees until heated-through and cheese is melted, 10-15 minutes.  To freeze: cover tightly with a layer of plastic wrap, then a layer of tinfoil, thaw and heat!