Lasagna Rolls

I'm always looking for some great make ahead meals to give myself a break in the kitchen. Here are some perfectly portioned individual lasagnas packed with 13 grams of protein per roll. These can easily be made in advance and placed in the freezer for another night like I did!

Spinach Lasagna Rolls
Servings: 9  Serving Size: 1 roll
Calories: 224.9  Fat: 5.1 g  Fiber: 3.4 g  Protein: 13.0 g Carbs: 31.5

• 9 lasagna noodles, cooked
• 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
• 15 oz fat free ricotta cheese 
• 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.

Creamy Chicken & Spinach Pasta

I usually try to plan out our meals but tonight I just kind of "winged it" and through together whatever I had on hand which consisted of pasta and spinach. I found a recipes that included the ingredients I wanted to use and then just added whatever else I wanted that I thought would taste good.

Ingredients:

3 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cubed

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 onion, chopped
garlic
lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon
2 handfuls spinach
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese
1 (16 oz) penne pasta
3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese

Directions
1.Bring large pot of water to a boil, and stir in penne pasta.
2.Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat,  saute onions and garlic. Add chicken cubes and cook in broth; simmering until done, about 10 minutes. Stir in cubed cream cheese, spinach and lemon juice. Return to simmer, and cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3.In a large bowl, mix together cooked, drained pasta, sauce and Parmesan. Let stand a few minutes before serving.

Chicken Piccata

This may seriously be the best dinner I've ever made! Actually it may be the BEST Chicken Piccata I've ever had in my life!

I've had awesome chicken piccata at Johnny's Italian Steakhouse, and not so good piccata at a few other places that shall remain nameless. So I thought I would try my hand at making it at home for a dinner guest. I found this chicken piccata recipe from Allrecipes.com (it has over 700 reviews!), I followed a few of the suggestions from other reviews and added a few of my own. This recipe is with all my adaptions from the previous recipe. I doubled the amounts for the sauce as I served it with Angel hair pasta. The result, OUTSTANDING!

Chicken Piccata

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts


• 1 egg


• 2 Tbsp milk


• 4 Tbsp lemon juice


• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour


• 1/4 tsp garlic powder


• 1/4 tsp paprika


• 1 stick butter


• 1 chicken bouillon


• 1 cup chicken stock, boiling


• 1/2 cup white wine


• 1 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in water


• 2 Tbsp capers

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, beat egg together with 2 Tbsp lemon juice and milk. Set aside.


2. Place chicken breasts in a plastic bag and close tight. Take a canned good and pound chicken until even thickness about 1/2 inch thick. Half each breast into a medallion or strip. In a shallow bowl or dish mix together the flour, garlic powder, paprika and lemon zest if desired. Lightly floured chicken in flour mixture, then dipped chicken in egg mixture, and back in flour mixture. Place floured chicken on plate and place in refrigerator for about 20 minutes to keep chicken keep its coating.


3. In a large skillet, melt 4 Tbsp butter with a little olive oil and brown the coated chicken on both sides. Place on a baking sheet and place in oven preheated to 250 degrees to keep warm while you prepare sauce.


4. Dissolve the bouillon in the boiling chicken stock, then add to skillet. Add remaining butter, lemon juice, white wine and lemon zest. Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes. Mix cornstarch with water to dissolve then add to sauce to thicken it. Add capers once ready to serve.

Serves with Angel hair pasta, Cesar salad and red wine.

ENJOY!!