Vegetarian Lasagna Rolls

I've been obsessed with cooking lately. A lot of the dishes I'm experimenting with are hit and miss and I'm easily frustrated with a bad result. I am also in the mindset that I want to use up everything I have in the freezer and pantry before making a trip to the store, so I've been coming up with random pairings. This isn't odd or random, but it is without meat, which is a little hard for my carnivorous husband to accept. I think this is probably the first time that he's truly wanted leftovers for dinner instead of something new and fresh...

Vegetarian Lasagna Rolls

12 lasagna noodles, boiled for 9 minutes, drained, set aside.

1 12-oz. can whole tomatoes
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp. fresh thyme



Combine ingredients in a medium saucepan and let simmer until the sauce has thickened and the tomatoes have broken down. This will leave you with about 1 cup of sauce. This is an element of the filling, not the tomato sauce for covering.

15 oz. part skim ricotta cheese
2 eggs
2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

Combine and set aside.



1 TB. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
salt and pepper
10 oz. baby portabello mushrooms, cut into medium sized pieces
2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves



In a medium frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium and add the onions, salt and pepper. When the onions become translucent, toss in the garlic, mushrooms and thyme. Turn the heat to medium-high; the mushrooms will release a lot of liquid, so let the liquid boil away and then allow them to brown. I like a lot of color on my mushrooms, so I let them brown, then stir, then brown then stir - the process takes about 10 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

12 oz. diced carrots
3 large celery stalks, diced
2 TB. olive oil
salt and pepper




In the same pan (over medium heat) add 2 TB. olive oil, carrots and salt and pepper. In order to expedite the cooking on the carrots, I add 1/2 cup of water and let the carrots boil until the water evaporates - you may need to do this 3-4 times. Add the celery about half-way through. When the carrots and celery are tender and all water has evaporated, the oil left in the pan should be enough to brown the vegetables. Stir in the mushroom mixture and the tomatoes.

Line the filling about 3/4 of the length of each lasagna noodle. Spoon the ricotta mixture over and roll! You should use up all of the filling and half of the ricotta.

1 standard bottle spaghetti sauce
3/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Spoon a light layer of sauce on the bottom of your pan. Add the lasagna rolls and top each roll with the remaining ricotta. Pour the spaghetti sauce over and top with the cheese. Bake at 400 degrees until hot and bubbly.