Spinach-Cottage Cheese Lasagna Roll-Ups
An economical and filling meal that you can bake off when you come home from work. Cook the noodles and assemble your roll-ups the night before, cover the baking dish with a sheet of aluminum foil or saran/food wrap and refrigerate until you're ready to bake. Add a bowl of soup and a salad for a filling meal.
The recipe I used as a basis for this post used ricotta cheese but, if you're on a budget, or can't get good ricotta cheese where you live, cottage cheese is a good substitute. If you can, get dry curd cottage cheese, but, again, if you can't find any, drain your cream style cottage cheese by pouring it into a medium sized wire strainer and let stand for about half an hour. I got about 1/4 cup of liquid out of the cottage cheese which would have made my roll-ups soggy.
Close-up of the baked roll-ups
Spinach-Cottage Cheese Lasagna Roll-Ups - serves 6, 2 roll-ups per person
12 lasagna noodles, cooked according to package instructions
2 1/2 cups (1 680 ml can) marinara sauce or meatless spaghetti sauce**
1 container (500 gm) 2% cottage cheese, drained
4 cups shredded cheese (equal parts mozzarella and cheddar), divided
2 tbsp ricotta cheese (optional)
2-4 tbsp Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 10 oz pkg frozen, chopped spinach (thawed) squeezed dry of any excess liquid
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
** What I used
Preheat the oven to 375 deg Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, combine drained spinach, cottage cheese, 3 cups shredded cheese, crumbled ricotta cheese, if using, Parmesan cheese, beaten eggs, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Prepare a 9 by 13 inch glass baking dish by spreading 1 cup of sauce on the bottom
Lay out cooked lasagna noodles flat and spread 1/3 of a cup of the spinach and cheese filling over the top.
Roll the noodle, as tightly as you can, into a tube and lay, seam side down, in the baking dish. Repeat, snuggling each roll up so you get 6 across the long side of the dish and forming two rows. Not all of my lasagna noodles were intact, you can see one in the lower right corner, but by the time you sauce, cheese and bake the roll-ups, you'll never know. :)
Spoon the remaining sauce over the roll ups and sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of cheese over the top.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until the center is cooked through and the cheese on top melts.
If you want a bubbling slightly browned cheese topping, you may put it under a broiler for a couple of minutes, watching carefully so the cheese doesn't burn.
I had a couple of extra lasagna noodles in the package so I cooked them all, and picked the best/most intact, for my roll-ups. Since I didn't want to be wasteful, I assembled a mini lasagna in a round baking dish with the scraps, reserving a scant 1/2 cup of spinach-cottage cheese filling as well as marinara sauce and shredded cheese for it.
Mini Lasagna
Here's a look at the interior.
The recipe I used as a basis for this post used ricotta cheese but, if you're on a budget, or can't get good ricotta cheese where you live, cottage cheese is a good substitute. If you can, get dry curd cottage cheese, but, again, if you can't find any, drain your cream style cottage cheese by pouring it into a medium sized wire strainer and let stand for about half an hour. I got about 1/4 cup of liquid out of the cottage cheese which would have made my roll-ups soggy.
Close-up of the baked roll-ups
Spinach-Cottage Cheese Lasagna Roll-Ups - serves 6, 2 roll-ups per person
12 lasagna noodles, cooked according to package instructions
2 1/2 cups (1 680 ml can) marinara sauce or meatless spaghetti sauce**
1 container (500 gm) 2% cottage cheese, drained
4 cups shredded cheese (equal parts mozzarella and cheddar), divided
2 tbsp ricotta cheese (optional)
2-4 tbsp Parmesan cheese, shredded
1 10 oz pkg frozen, chopped spinach (thawed) squeezed dry of any excess liquid
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
** What I used
Preheat the oven to 375 deg Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, combine drained spinach, cottage cheese, 3 cups shredded cheese, crumbled ricotta cheese, if using, Parmesan cheese, beaten eggs, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Prepare a 9 by 13 inch glass baking dish by spreading 1 cup of sauce on the bottom
Lay out cooked lasagna noodles flat and spread 1/3 of a cup of the spinach and cheese filling over the top.
Roll the noodle, as tightly as you can, into a tube and lay, seam side down, in the baking dish. Repeat, snuggling each roll up so you get 6 across the long side of the dish and forming two rows. Not all of my lasagna noodles were intact, you can see one in the lower right corner, but by the time you sauce, cheese and bake the roll-ups, you'll never know. :)
Spoon the remaining sauce over the roll ups and sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of cheese over the top.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until the center is cooked through and the cheese on top melts.
If you want a bubbling slightly browned cheese topping, you may put it under a broiler for a couple of minutes, watching carefully so the cheese doesn't burn.
I had a couple of extra lasagna noodles in the package so I cooked them all, and picked the best/most intact, for my roll-ups. Since I didn't want to be wasteful, I assembled a mini lasagna in a round baking dish with the scraps, reserving a scant 1/2 cup of spinach-cottage cheese filling as well as marinara sauce and shredded cheese for it.
Mini Lasagna
Here's a look at the interior.