It seems to me there's a quote somewhere about desperation leading to innovation leading to inspiration. This was something like that. It was a Thursday, and I wasn't planning on going to the grocery store till that night or the next day. My kids were complaining about sandwiches for lunch (again!) and my 6-year old started begging for me to take everyone out to eat. Since this is something she actually does on a regular basis, I left the room for a few minutes to think. I realized that when I have cheese in the house (and I did), then I can almost always come up with something the kids will eat and enjoy. So I came back and started scrounging through my pantry and cabinets to see what I could throw together.
That's when it caught my eye. A half-used box of lasagna noodles? Surely there's something I could do with that. And there was...
It was so surprisingly good, that the kids begged for me to make it again and soon. So I made it the next night for The Honey to serve the kids (I had a meeting) and got more rave reviews. It's quickly become a fast favorite around here!
Lasagna Pizza Rolls
Lasagna noodles (any kind)
Shredded mozzarella cheese, or blend of cheeses
Pepperoni, or other favorite pizza toppings (optional)
Italian-style diced tomatoes (pureed in blender)
OR pizza sauce
Take your lasagna noodles and break them in half. You can use oven-ready or regular noodles, it doesn't matter.
As you can see from the first time I did it, it's hard to break them in a straight line just using your hands. However, I discovered the second time around that if you use the straight edge of the counter top and break the noodles over that, you get a nice, clean break every time. You'll see evidence of this in later pictures.
Place halved noodles in a medium to large pot of boiling water and boil for 10 minutes. (Hint: Do not stir the noodles too much while cooking. They will start to fall apart. Just stir them enough to keep them from sticking to the pan.)
Drain and rinse with cold water.
Spread a sheet of aluminum foil out on the counter, and line up as many lasagna noodles as you can in straight rows.
Next, sprinkle on desired amount of cheese and add any pizza toppings you like, such as pepperoni, sausage, or sauteed veggies.
Starting at one end, roll each noodle up individually and place in a greased rectangular casserole dish.
Continue until all the noodles have been rolled up.
Top with pizza sauce or pureed Italian-style diced tomatoes. Don't drown them with sauce, just spread a nice layer over the top.
Then sprinkle with additional cheese. As you can see, for this batch we used mozzarella in the middle and mixed cheese for the top. Fabulous.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the foil half-way through the baking time to get your cheese nicely browned like you see here.
CAUTION: You're kids may want to eat more of this than you think they will, so be sure to supplement this tasty dish with a nice, green salad! Then your husband won't scold you for not making enough...
