Another day, another (terrible attempt at a mom joke with the title) quick dinner recipe!

I know… I need to stick to what I know and get back to baking. I promise I am and I have some fun things coming up! But until then, I am going to keep sharing “dinners my toddler will eat more than 2 bites of (sometimes) and don’t take hours to make.”

This one sort of came about because I didn’t feel like making a full lasagna. Ugh, so much work and so heavy. I also did NOT feel like waiting an hour for this to cook. The truth is I have a 30-45 minute window in-between the time I get home from work and when I need to leave to pick up my girls. I used to feel guilty and thought I needed to rush to pick them up. But, then when I got home I was juggling hungry screaming kids and no dinner prepared. In a state of panic, I’d be forced to sprinkle cheerios/veggie straws/random crackers from my pocket in front of our 9 month old (Hulk smash for real when that one is hungry) and then I’d throw some chicken nuggets and cheese at my toddler and wonder why she was so gassy all the time (TRUTH).

Looong story short, I’ve been working on dinners I can either cook to entirety, or at the very least get prepped in that precious window of time. Now by the time daddy gets home we don’t have to try to eat while acting as human jungle gyms. How can something so small be so strong?!

What you’ll need:

• 12 Lasagna noodles, cooked
• 2 containers of Ricotta cheese (15 oz)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups Mozzarella cheese
• 2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 4 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ medium onion, diced
• 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained (14.5 oz)
• 1 can tomato paste (6 oz)
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Now what do you do:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cook noodles as directed on package.
3. Sauce Directions: (Totally cool to just use the jarred stuff too!)

• In a medium sauce pan add 1 Tbsp olive oil.
• Next, add 2 Tbsp basil, 2 Tbsp parsley, and onion. Cook until onion is just soft.
• Add diced tomatoes, paste and broth. Heat until combined.
• Add salt & pepper to taste.

4. In a medium bowl, mix ricotta, eggs, remaining herbs, and half the amount of cheese in a bowl.
5. Spread half of the tomato sauce in a 13×9 inch baking dish.
6. Lay out lasagna noodles one by one, spreading 1/4 – 1/3 cup mixture across each and rolling up.
7. Place seam side down on sauce in dish, about 6 in each row.
8. Evenly distribute remaining sauce, and then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
9. Bake for 20 minutes, covered in foil. Followed by 5-10 minutes uncovered to brown the cheese.
10. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving, so everything sets.
11. Enjoy! We paired ours with turkey Italian sausage & peppers, since our roll-ups are meatless. You can also add all kinds of vegetables as well.

Once again, this dinner was a hit. Well, for my husband at least. Never know what the toddler will or won’t accept as dinner.  The good news is, this was so east to make I don’t take it personal if she doesn’t eat it AND I get to have more leftovers for lunch 🙂