How these Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Roll Ups came to be:

I was cleaning out my pantry like a madwoman recently and found some lasagna noodles- EIGHT, to be exact.  It wasn’t enough to make a full-blown, proper classic lasagna, so I set to work thinking up something else to do with these pesky leftover noodles.  I thought maybe I could break them apart and use them as pasta pieces in soup, but since it’s a few days away from summer… that wasn’t the best idea.  Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Roll Ups came to mind. Roll ups with a lasagna-like filling was the perfect option since it would be a good amount of food for dinner for my family of three, and there would be leftovers too:

How to Roast Vegetables:

I snuck some roasted veggies into my lasagna filling because I had some random vegetables lurking in my vegetable drawer.  They’re pretty easy to sneak in there since the sauce covers everything up.  The roasted lends a sweetness to the veggies, which really bumps up the flavor in the dish.  Use whatever veggies your family will eat.  In this recipe here, I use carrots, red bell peppers, red onion, zucchini and corn.  The veggies are tossed with olive oil and salt/pepper and are roasted for about 40 minutes. It’s nice to roast them in the morning (before the day gets too warm), and then just let them cool and refrigerate them until dinnertime.

How to assemble Lasagna Roll Ups:

Lay out the cooked noodles.

Spread the filling on top (a mix of ricotta, egg, Parmesan and the roasted veggies).

Sprinkle with cheese (I use Swiss to give it a flavor boost, but you can use whatever cheese you’d like).

Roll ’em up!

Make the sauce (a quick method of heating and whisking butter, flour, milk, salt, pepper and Parmesan). My family loves a good, creamy sauce.  This one is an easy, homemade creamy sauce. Spread a little of the sauce into the bottom of the pan.  Place the lasagna rolls into the pan and drizzle the rest of the sauce on top.  BAKE until bubbly.

Then you have dinner!  These roasted vegetable lasagna roll ups are slightly sweet (from the veggies) and cheesy and creamy.  My husband and I both love them.  Kids might like them too if they can overlook the veggies. Enjoy!