Caprese Lasagna Rolls

Of course, I found this gem of a recipe on none other than...Pinterest! Seriously, I have this whole bookshelf of cookbooks but most of what I make comes from Pinterest. I feel sorry for my cookbooks...I do still use them, just not very frequently!

This past weekend, my husband and I spent some time at the lake. We left on Wednesday night and came home Monday night. It was rainy most of the time we were there so we only got out on the boat twice, and swam in the lake once. But, it was a very nice time. Sometimes it's nice to just go somewhere else and relax. Hubby got to finish his book, read an entire other book and start its sequel! What a reading machine... I got to browse Pinterest, play my phone games and get stuff ready for the school year. We ate dinner out every night, which made us decide we wanted to go mainly meatless this week. Hence, this recipe!

I'm not a big lasagna fan normally because of all the meat that goes into it! This recipe has no meat (though you could probably put some in if you wanted to!) so I was eager to try it out. Plus, who doesn't love a good Caprese anything?! 

A few things about this recipe...make sure you get your noodles boiling at the same time you start on the tomato sauce. This will give them enough time to cool off for you to lay them out. I singed the tips of my fingers because I wasn't patient enough...so maybe the lesson is just to be patient. Either way. When you spread the cheese mixture on the noodles, leave about 1/2" at the end of the noodle so you don't lose any cheese to rolling! Also, when you go to roll up the noodles, just think back to your childhood slumber parties. It's just like rolling up a sleeping bag! Tuck and roll...tuck and roll...

Mmm mmm mmmmm....

Caprese Lasagna Rolls

8 lasagna noodles, uncooked

14 oz shredded mozzarella, divided

3/4 cup Ricotta cheese

1 large egg white

1/3 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese

3-4 medium Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced (about 1/6" thick)

1/4 cup chopped basil

1 cup tomato sauce (recipe below)

Tomato Sauce

2 Tbsp EVOO

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely minced

28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

S&P

1. Begin by making the tomato sauce. Heat EVOO in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft, then throw in garlic and saute for a minute or two. Pour in crushed tomatoes and season with salt & pepper to taste. Bring just to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes (or until ready to use it!)

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta noodles according to the package directions. Drain and line them up in a single layer on either parchment or wax paper.

3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the Ricotta cheese and egg white. Mix well. Add in Parmesan cheese, 12 oz of Mozzarella cheese and a little pepper. Mix well.

4. In the bowl, divide the cheese mixture into 8 equal parts. Spread onto the lasagna noodles in a thin layer. Then place about 4 tomato slices on each lasagna noodle. Sprinkle with basil. Then, roll them up!

5. Lightly spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray, then spread some of the tomato sauce into a thin layer on the bottom. Place each lasagna roll seam-side down in the baking dish. Top each roll with more tomato sauce. The better you cover it, the less likely your noodles are to dry out when baking. Sprinkle the rest of the Mozzarella cheese on top. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!