Spinach Lasagna Rolls

In order to get my body prepared for spring break (along with almost every other college student over the last few months) I have started making healthier recipes. Recently, my sister sent me a new weight watchers recipe I really wanted to try. It's for spinach lasagna rolls and they were delicious. They were also extremely filling and not that bad for you! I invited my friend Jenn over to be a taste tester and she also really enjoyed it. Below is the recipe if anyone wants to give it a shot! I used fresh spinach and welted it in a skillet instead of frozen spinach (highly recommend).

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

9 lasagna noodles, cooked

10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained

15 oz fat free ricotta cheese (I like Polly-o)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg

salt and fresh pepper

32 oz tomato sauce

9 tbsp (about 3 oz) part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Ladle about 1 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish.

Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and lay out lasagna noodles. Make sure noodles are dry. Take 1/3 cup of ricotta mixture and spread evenly over noodle. Roll carefully and place seam side down onto the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.

Ladle sauce over the noodles in the baking dish and top each one with 1 tbsp mozzarella cheese. Put foil over baking dish and bake for 40 minutes, or until cheese melts. Makes 9 rolls.

To serve, ladle a little sauce on the plate and top with lasagna roll.

Omelets

I like to consider myself a pretty good cook. I can make a lot of different entrees and I certainly know how to make most basic items. However, for some reason I cannot for the life of me make an omelet. The cooks in Harcombe freshman year were absolute pros at making omelets, but not me. This week, I decided to look up an instructional video and found one on YouTube. In this particular video, the man explaining how to create an omelet uses a stove and an oven (which is just too much for a couple of eggs). He begins by cooking the omelet over the stove and once the bottom has solidified, he puts the filling on top and sticks it in the broiler to keep cooking. In my opinion that is just too much trouble. No one wants to take that much time cooking breakfast, let alone eggs. I tried this recipe and technique myself and still had no luck. I guess omelets are just not for me. From now on, I will be sticking to the normal scrambled eggs. Below is a link to the video I looked at:

How To Make the Perfect Omelet

My Cooking Background

As a kid, I always enjoyed being in the kitchen and helping my mom cook. No matter what she was making for dinner, I wanted to be her "helper". As I've grown up some, I have started to cook more on my own. I recently realized it is something I really love to do. In college I have had the opportunity to learn more on my own and try different recipes. Most of the skills I have I learned from my mom, grandma, and of course the Food Network. Whether I'm cooking for myself or family and friends I found that cooking truly makes me happy.