When it comes to food, pregnancy makes you fickle. When I pinned a recipe for Chicken & Bacon Lasagna Roll Ups, I fully intended to make this dish as soon as possible and devour every last bite … until we were grocery shopping for the ingredients, and it suddenly sounded awful to me.

No biggie. I decided to just make regular lasagna instead. The problem is when I make lasagna, there are enough leftovers to feed a family of five for an entire week. And right now, we’re sitting pretty at two and a half Peebles, if you count the kiddo I’m making as we speak.

So, I improvised! What I liked about the original roll up recipe was the smaller portions, using only 8 lasagna noodles, instead of a whole box. I know there are plenty of recipes out there for lasagna roll ups, but I’m glad I worked from the SimplyGloria version because my new creation turned out so delicious!

Main Ingredients

• 10 lasagna noodles
• 1 lb sweet Italian sausage
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 cups spaghetti sauce (make it or buy it, as you prefer)

Filling

• 15 oz ricotta cheese
• ½ cup sour cream
• ½ cup grated Parmesan
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/2 tablespoon onion powder
• 1/2 tablespoon parsley
• salt and pepper, to taste

My Go-To Spaghetti Sauce

• 15 oz organic tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup champagne
• 1/2 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon thyme
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

(1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Start a large pot of water boiling and add 1 tablespoon of vegetable or olive oil to keep the noodles from sticking together. Add the pasta noodles and cook for 8 minutes (about 2 minutes less than the directions).

(2) In a medium bowl, mix all the ingredients together for the filling. Easy-peasy. By the way, I really love how the sour cream pairs with the ricotta! Set aside.

(3) Start making your spaghetti sauce. For my recipe, you literally just dump everything in a saucepan and warm on medium heat for about 5 minutes. When the sauce is done, pour about half of it into the bottom of a baking dish.

(4) In a skillet, cook up the sweet Italian sausage, breaking into small pieces. Make sure to drain off the excess fat. I usually also take a paper towel and dab off as much residual grease as I can. Set aside.

(5) When the pasta is done, drain and lay flat onto cutting board. Use paper towels to dry off excess water. I found I could get 5 noodles on one board and get all the rolls done in two batches.

(6) Divide and spread the filling onto the cooked pasta evenly. Add the sweet Italian sausage onto each noodle. Roll the noodles jelly-roll style and add to the baking dish, seam side down. I make two columns with five noodles in each. It’s a tight fit, but try putting the rolls open-end to open-end so the filling doesn’t spill out.

The filling.

How to arrange your roll ups.

(7) Cover the rolls with the remaining sauce. Then sprinkle the entire thing with mozzarella cheese and throw it into the oven for about 30 minutes. Let the roll ups sit for about 5 minutes after they’re done.

Lasagna Roll Ups

I think these Lasagna Roll Ups are being added to the Big Red Cookbook as a family favorite. The hubby really loves this recipe, and I really love not having to eat lasagna for two weeks. Sometimes pregnancy symptoms work out in your favor! 🙂