Lasagna Roll Ups - Freezer Friendly

Lasagna Roll-ups

Being a working mom means you need some shortcuts in life. If I don't prep at least three or four freezer meals a week, I feel totally lost. Freezer meals are a life saver when you need to get dinner on the table quick, (and when you really really don't feel like cooking). This is one of my tried and true freezer recipes and I hope you and your family like it as much as we do.

I tried my best to get all the ingredients together first, which makes life a whole lot easier. Seriously whenever you are making a recipe like this read ALL the ingredients and directions before you start. I've made the mistake (and still do sometimes) to start a recipe and not read the whole thing first. Then, of course, I'm missing a key ingredient.

Boil your lasagna noodles for 8 minutes. A little tip-- add a bit of oil (and of course salt) to the boiling water to help pasta not stick. Rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.

Lay flat on a baking sheet or any flat surface. This way they don't crumple up... crumple? Is that a word... aww well, it is today.

Chop, chop, chop! These are my favorite veggies to use for this recipe and I like chopping them a little chunky. I don't know about you, but I have to sneak in those veggies wherever I can with my little one.

In go the onions and garlic. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and saute in olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until onions are translucent.

Throw in 1 pound of ground beef and brown; drain excess fat.

So it's a little different to throw the veggies in at this stage. Usually you'd saute them before the meat, but I like when the vegetables have a little texture, and this way they don't disintegrate into the sauce.

Don't forget to add your salt and pepper! Salt naturally softens your vegetables so it's important to remember it.

After the vegetables have cooked down, add in your sauce. Now, under normal circumstances I would use a 28oz can of crushed tomatoes and a few Italian spices to make my own sauce, but of course I forgot it. So I just used a standard pasta sauce, you can use whatever kind you like.

Look at all those chunks of veggies! Yum! I definitely made too much sauce, but just another freezer meal for another day. Bring sauce to a boil then simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.

While you let the sauce simmer, make your ricotta mixture.

To a mixing bowl add 15oz ricotta cheese, 1 egg, and 1 tablespoon parmagiana cheese.

Chop parsley very fine. You want to just have beautiful little pieces throughout the mixture.

Ah! So pretty! Make sure you mix well and break the egg yolk.

Now it's time for assembly! Make sure the sauce has had some time to cool down (probably about a half hour). Making an assembly line like this makes the job easier.

Place lasagna sheet n flat surface and spread ricotta mixture across the whole thing.

Spread out the yummy sauce next.

Roll it on out! I made mine a little messy cause I stuffed it like a crazy person, you can use a little less filling so it won't flow over, but I prefer it messy like this.