Easter Dinner

Easter dinner in the prep stages......wow you say where is the ham and all of the other traditional Easter Foods?   I know we are at times an unconventional family and that is not just with the foods we prepare. 

This is actually a Spinach Lasagna Roll Up and it is really very easy to make as well as very tasty!  My mother loves to make this when we have lots of guests coming for dinner.  This year we were lucky to have many family members come into town to celebrate Easter with us. 

The Filling: So you will need 2 cups of ricotta cheese or lowfat cottage cheese... 2- 10 oz. packages of chopped frozen spinach....thawed and drained..... 2 Cups of Shredded mozarella.......and approximately 28oz. of tomato sauce.

Mix spinach, ricotta and 1 cup of the mozarella for the filling.  Reserve 1 cup of mozarella for topping when cooking the roll ups.

1 whole box of lasagna noodles cooked and drained.

 Basically to make this simple lasagna variation you want to cook a whole box of your favorite lasagna noodles....don't over cook because they will fall apart when you go to roll them with their spinach and ricotta cheese filling.To cool the noodles, line your counterop with wax paper and lay each noodle in a single layer along the paper. Once they have cooled enough to be touched, use 1/4 cup of the spinach and ricotta mixture and plop it in the center of each noodle.  Flatten the filling out a little by spreading with the back of a spoon.....you don't have to spread it the entire length of the noodle, just enough to make it a little flatter for when you will roll it. 

Before rolling up your noodles pour a small amount of tomato sauce in the bottom of your skillet.

  To roll the noodle start at one end and roll towards the opposite end.  When you are done rolling, put it seam down in the skillet.  When you have all of the noodles rolled up and they are in your skillet, pour some tomato sauce over the top of them...bring them to a boil and then reduce to a simmer with a cover for 5 minutes.   Next sprinkle with the remaining mozarella and cook for another 5 minutes or until the mozarella on top has melted. 

Now the recipe is meatless, but if you have guests who like meat you can do what we did....make some meatballs to go along with the Spinach Lasagna Roll-ups.  This is my father rolling the final meatball. We popped these into the oven for about 35 minutes.

Add a salad and some hearty bread and you have yourself a pretty fantastic meal that is easy on the budget and the waitline!

Now of course we couldn't end it there....we had biscotti and slow churned ice cream for dessert.

Now we may be different with our menu, but I will ease your minds.....the jelly beans and chocolate bunnies were eaten before, during and after we hand dyed the Easter Eggs and of course we can't forget the Easter Egg Hunt! We hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday...I know we did.