Lasagna night with a twist!

I'm not Italian, but I sure do enjoy making some homemade sauce and whipping up a yummy Italian meal!  Tonight I did lasagna, but rolled it into it's own little serving, a la ... Lasagna Roll-ups.  I was inspired by the recipe I found on pinterest.  Here is the original if you'd like to check it out.  I, of course, put my own spin on it, and made my own homemade sauce.  I'm posting the recipe for that first and then the recipe/instructions for the roll-ups.  This made a LOT!  Enough so that the boys will have leftovers for dinner tomorrow night.  :)

Spaghetti Sauce

2 - 29oz cans of tomato puree

2 - 6 oz cans of tomato paste

1 - 14oz can of beef broth

2 tbsp olive oil

3 tsp oregano

3 tsp basil

1 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C brown sugar

5-6 cloves garlic, diced (I LOVE garlic, so the more, the better for me)

* Combine all ingredients in pot and let simmer on the lowest setting possible for 5-6 hours, stirring occasionally.  

 

  Lasagna Roll-ups

16 lasagna noodles (I told you it made a lot!)

1 package ground sausage

1 tbsp olive oil

4 cloves garlic, diced

1 egg

1 C ricotta cheese

1/2 C grated parmesan cheese

3/4 tsp basil

3/4 tsp oregano

1/2 C shredded mozzarella cheese

* Preheat oven to 350

* Heat a large pot of water to boiling over high heat.  When it reaches a boil, salt liberally and drop noodles.  Stir occasionally and cook to just al dente.  You want to leave them slightly more firm since you'll be baking the pasta.  Drain noodles and set aside.

* In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add garlic and saute for 2-3 minutes.  Add sausage and brown.  Add sausage mixture to your homemade sauce and continue to let it simmer until you're ready to assemble your roll-ups.

* In a small bowl, lightly beat egg.  Add ricotta, parmesan, basil and oregano, and stir together.  Spray pan lightly with cooking spray, and add enough sauce to lightly cover the bottom of the pan (if you want, you can put some aside before you add in the sausage mixture, this is what I did).  

* To assemble ... on a drained noodle, add a spoonful of ricotta mixture, top with a spoonful of meat sauce and  and roll up.  Please seam side down in pan.  Continue until you've used all the noodles (I made so many that I had to use two pans).  Top each with a little more meat sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella.  Bake approximately 20 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly. 

 

 

The finished product ....