Lasagna Roll-Ups (A new version!)

If you have been following my blog for any amount of time, you know that my go to dish is my lasagna roll ups. They are so delish and although they were meant to be a no meat meal - throwing in some beef to make my husband happy wasn't that hard to do! At my Nourishing Hearts class the other night, Lasagna Roll Ups were on the menu and these were a bit different from my original recipe, so I had to share... Especially after we tried them and they were also super good!! I love shaking things up a bit...

Lasagna Roll Ups (A new version!)
(recipe found at Nourishing Hearts)

8 dry lasagna noodles
1 beaten egg
1 carton (15 ounces) ricotta cheese
1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 jar (26 ounces) prepared pasta sauce

Preheat oven to 375. Prepare 9x13 pan by coating with cooking spray and then adding 1/2 of the jar of pasta sauce to cover bottom. Cook lasagna noodles just until pliable for rolling. Drain noodles; rinse with cold water. In a separate mixing bowl stir together egg, ricotta cheese, spinach, 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese and 3/4 cup of the parmesan cheese. Spread about 1/2 cup of the filling on each lasagna noodle and roll up. Place seam side down in prepared pan. Pour remaining sauce over top of roll ups and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese. Cover and freeze at this point if desired.

To prepare: allow to thaw completely. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for 5-10 minutes more or until heated through. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving and sprinkle with remaining parmesan cheese.

Weekly Line Up - 4/20-4/27

Wow, things have been wild around here and I have been exceptionally lazy about doing my weekly meal plan... at least on the blog! Obviously I am still planning meals and cooking, but haven't gotten around to posting them! Hoping to be back on track though and get some stuff done!! Spring fever hit a little too early! :) Time to get going though - I've got 2 birthdays coming up, teacher appreciation week and Josh's family is coming into town - time to start baking and cooking it up!! Have a great week!

Friday - *Mexican Meatloaf
Saturday - Pancake Supper (fundraiser for our local fire department)
Sunday - cereal (needing a break this weekend!:)
Monday - *Taco Corn Chili
Tuesday - *Mini Cheeseburger Pies
Wednesday - Taco Night
Thursday - Broccoli & Cauliflower Salad (Boy Scout potluck)
Friday - Pizza at the bowling alley (Brody's turning 7!)

Extras: *pumpkin chocolate chip bread, *purple green monster, *peanut butter banana bread, *breakfast cookies

* new recipes

Dirt-N-Worms

For her birthday, which I can't believe was already a month ago, my mother in law asked for lasagna roll ups and Dirt-N-Worms for her birthday dinner. Easy enough, consider it done! :) Looking back at my recipes, I found it extremely hard to believe that I have never posted about Dirt-N-Worms... It is a family favorite, usually found instead of cake at a lot of my nieces and nephews birthday parties. It was even the "grooms cake" at my brother's wedding, that is how much our family likes Dirt-N-Worms!! I've seen it made in individual cups, my brother's was even in a sand pail, but I just make one big pan - ready for everyone and easy as can be! :)



Dirt-N-Worms

2 tablespoons butter
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 packages of instant chocolate pudding
3 cups milk
12 ounces cool whip, thawed
1 package oreos
gummy worms

In first bowl, combine butter, cream cheese and sugar. In second bowl, combine pudding and milk. Combine both bowls together and fold in cool whip. Smash oreos and layer half of the oreos on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Add pudding and cover with rest of oreos. Poke worms into "dirt". Refrigerate.

Additional idea: We have tried this using butterscotch pudding and gummy bears... Bears in the bed - still a hit, but I definitely like the original idea best! :)

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Here's the frosting recipe that I promised you!! So rich and creamy and I love that touch of vanilla in with the cream cheese. If you have leftovers - a favorite snack of mine is to spread the frosting between two graham crackers and have a fabulously, if not super sweet, sandwich! :)

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 package (16 ounces) powdered sugar

In large bowl, with mixer at medium hgih speed, beat butter, cream cheese and vanilla 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Beat in powdered sugar until blended. Increase speed to medium high; beat 2 minutes or until light and creamy.

Vanilla Rich Chip Cake with Vanilla Butter Glaze

I was looking for something simple yet delicious for my son's first birthday cake. I knew the design that I was going for and just needed to make the square cakes so that I could decorate my heart away! :) I found this recipe, yet again, in my trusty old file of recipes that I have saved and saved! :) I can't believe that I haven't ever made this cake before... It was rich and delicious and YELLOW - which is my absolute favorite! I topped it with the Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting that will be coming tomorrow instead of the butter glaze... Super yum!



Vanilla Rich Chip Cake

1 package (18 1/4 ounces) yellow cake mix
1 package (3 1/2 ounces) instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Beat all ingredients, except chocolate chips, in a large bowl with mixer on low, just until moistened. Beat on medium 2 minutes. Stir in chips. Pour into greased and floured 12 cup bundt pan. Bake in preheated 350 oven for 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Invert cake onto wire rack. Cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or drizzle with vanilla butter glaze.

Vanilla Butter Glaze:

Mix 3 tablespoons butter, melted, 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons water and 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract until smooth. Let stand for 3 minutes or until thickened. Drizzle over cake.

Ranch Pasta Primavera

This is another oldie that I found in my recipe binder... obviously I need to take a look in there every once in a while to see what I have collected! :) It was quick to throw together and another recipe that I didn't get to try on my son's birthday night... I don't know what I was figuring that night - usually I have food overflowing the house and we are eating it for days... This night we ran out of everything!! Made cleaning up easier, but the hubs and I didn't get much to eat!! Once again, from the looks of it - this was a tasty recipe!! I even doubled it and it was gone!!

Ranch Pasta Primavera

6 ounces rotini pasta
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 packet hidden valley ranch mix
16 ounces thawed vegetable medley mix

Cook pasta. Drain and stir in remaining ingredients. Heat through and serve warm.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad

This is one of my favorite salads and I have never made it before!! I was browsing through my own cooking binder (for once!:) and found this recipe, so I decided that it was just the thing to make for Braxton's first birthday party... It was obviously a hit since I didn't even get to have any!! They ate me out of house and home that night... At least that means that the food was good, right?? I guess that I will have to make another batch soon so I can have more then the one bite I got off my dad's plate!!

Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad

1 head of broccoli
1 head of cauliflower
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 pound bacon
3/4 cup sunflower seeds (add when you are ready to eat)

Dressing
1 cup miracle whip
1 tablespoon vinegar
1/3 cup sugar

Mix everything together and serve.