This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PremiumPrep #CollectiveBias || These tender vegetables, gooey cheese and perfectly seasoned sauce are so hearty you will forget you ever put meat in your lasagna!
I’ve always been a “load it up with meat” kind of gal when it came to lasagna. I always wanted ground beef that was soaked with seasoned sauce and cheeses, wrapped up with even more sauce and cheeses. I was so focused on the meat, I wouldn’t completely forget to add vegetables! Bad, Leslie. Bad.
I found myself on a mission to make the most delicious, most filling, most awesomest (shhhh, I know it’s not a real word) veggie lasagna. But not just veggie lasagna – veggie lasagna rollups. Why rollups, you ask? They’re already the perfect portion size, and you don’t have to worry about the typical ohmygodtheingredientsarespillingouteverywhere problem you have with slicing your standard lasagna. And by making a whole bunch of these over the weekend, you’ve set yourself up for effortless “grab and go” lunches (or dinners, for when the idea of cooking after you get home from work is just too much to bear).
However, I had a small problem: I had nothing good to store the veggie lasagna rollups in once I’d made them. Okay… that’s actually more of a big problem with regard to the situation. All I had around the house were gigantic, heavy glass baking dishes (which defeats the purpose of making something easily transportable) or containers that easily stained (which is a problem when we’re talking about a dish made with red pasta sauce). I decided it was time to make a switch to something more lightweight and durable.
I remembered that Rachel at The Chic Site had recently been raving about Rubbermaid® Brilliance™, and since she’s basically my role model and everything she says and does is gold… off to Walmart I went!
Now, now – don’t think I didn’t do my research just because Rachel is a domestic goddess (iloveyourachel). The Rubbermaid® Brilliance™ premium food storage collection is new to Walmart (as of Fall 2016) and it truly delivers in ways that their competitors don’t. The most important things to me were that the containers were:
- Microwaveable (which means easy reheating!)
- Stain-resistant (hooray for no red tinge!)
- 100% leak-proof (guaranteed, no less!)
- Stackable and not wobbly (a godsend for saving space in the fridge)
- Clear, so that I can see what’s inside without having to do the dance of opening every single container to find what I’m looking for (time saver!)
All in all, it sounded like a set of Rubbermaid® Brilliance™ premium food storage containers were exactly what I needed to make my life a little bit easier in the kitchen.
As you know, my goal is always to save money when it comes to shopping – so it made sense to do our weekly grocery shopping trip while we were out. I loaded up the Ibotta app and found that they had the following offers available:
- $0.75 off any Bertolli pasta sauce variety at Walmart
- $2.00 off a single Rubbermaid Brilliance container at Walmart
- $5.00 off the Rubbermaid Brilliance 10 piece set at Walmart
I treated myself to the 10 piece set and decided that I could make my life even easier by grabbing a bottle of Bertolli® Tomato & Basil sauce. Truthfully, I don’t enjoy making pasta sauce, so this was one less thing I’d have to do when prepping the lasagna! Bertolli® is a brand that I reach for because I know the company prides itself on its Tuscan roots – and Tuscany knows what it’s doing when it comes to cooking.
So, let’s fast forward. I finally decided to take a stab at an all veggie lasagna, and ohmygod I’m glad that I did.
Veggie lasagna is now my new favorite lasagna recipe for a few reasons:
- With so many veggies, it’s so hearty that I don’t even miss the beef.
- I’m able to incorporate all my favorites veggies without having to pick favorites! There’s always that fear that you’ll have too many ingredients and then overstuffed lasagna becomes exploding lasagna.
- Using Bertolli® Tomato & Basil sauce took away the stress of making my own sauce (and like I said before, making the sauce is by far my least favorite part of the lasagna-making process).
Now – let’s talk about how you can make the magic happen! I’m just going to give you a quick pictorial step by step, the detailed instructions can be found at the bottom of the post.
First, get all your ingredients laid out and prepped. The last thing you want to do is have to frantically slice a carrot when everything else is ready to go and you’re under the gun.
Using a bunch of pinch bowls makes this whole process a lot easier. I know, I know – it’s more dishes that have to be cleaned, but it’s totally worth it. Not having to scramble to measure things on the fly is a big time and stress saver.
I also like to set out my storage containers when I’m prepping. It helps me visualize how much I’m making so that I don’t go totally off the rails and make enough food for a small army. When I know that those containers are all I have to use for storage, it keeps my over-enthusiasm at bay.
Get the veggies together (sans mushrooms) on a lined baking sheet and pop them in the oven for 15 minutes. Add the mushrooms and toss them back in for another 10 minutes.
Boil the noodles while the veggies are roasting. Once the noodles are done and cool enough to touch, lay them out side by side on wax or parchment paper and get all your ingredients together in a bit of an assembly line (or in my case, assembly… rectangle?) and start layering everything on in this order: cheese mixture, diced tomatoes, veggies, sauce.
Roll ’em up, and place them in your baking dish that’s prepped with a thin layer of sauce.
Does your counter top look like a bit of a disaster area? Good, that makes you’re doing it right ;)
Tent with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 10. You’re done!
Now all you have to do is scoop out each roll and serve. Just look at that ooey, gooey, melty cheese. I’m drooling just looking at it… and I just ate these!
Since it’s just the two of us in this house, we don’t need to eat a whole pan of these veggie lasagna rollups in one sitting (but to be fair, it’s a bit hard not to want to try). This is where the magic that is Rubbermaid® Brilliance™ premium storage containers comes in.
I wasn’t even planning on it, but the smallest size container is almost the exact size of each rollup, which makes it perfect for a single serving grab-and-go lunch. Can we say “match made in heaven”?
I managed to fill all but one of the containers with the leftovers, which was perfect! I needed the extra for different leftovers anyway.
After all the lasagna was gone (and I’d stopped crying about it), I washed out all the containers and was left with exactly what Rubbermaid® Brilliance™ promised. No leaks and no stains – which means they’re just as crystal clear for the next food that gets stored in it so I always know what’s in my fridge without any effort at all.
Make your own life easier and check out some ideas from fellow savvy shoppers over on the Savvy Meal Solutions hub – I’ve already found a few things I can’t wait to try!
After you’ve made this recipe, please consider coming back to share your experience with others by leaving a comment below with a star rating!
Veggie Lasagna Rollups
Ingredients
- 12 lasagna noodles, cooked according to package directions
- 1 24 oz jar Bertolli® Tomato & Basil Sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ medium yellow onion, small diced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 zucchini, thinly sliced
- 2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
- 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
- 3 cups mozzarella cheese, divided
- 1 15 oz container ricotta cheese
- ½ cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup parsley
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 egg
- 1 10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 6 ounces diced tomatoes, drained, if from a can
Instructions
- Cook lasagna according to package directions and lay them out on parchment paper in a single layer until ready to use.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil and set aside. In a 9x13 baking dish, spread just enough tomato sauce to cover the bottom. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine onion, garlic, zucchini and carrots with olive oil and toss to coat.
- Spread in an even layer on prepared baking sheet and salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 15 minutes, then add mushrooms on top in an even layer, and bake for 10 more minutes.
- In a medium bowl, combine 1 ½ cups mozzarella, ricotta, and Parmesan cheeses with parsley, red pepper flakes, egg and spinach. Salt and pepper to taste, and whisk to combine.
- Spread an even layer of the cheese mixture onto each noodle, followed by a layer of diced tomatoes, then a layer of roasted veggies, and lastly a layer of tomato sauce (make sure to leave some sauce leftover - you'll need it later!).
- Starting at one end, roll each noodle - you want it to be secure enough to keep the ingredients from spilling out the sides. Place each roll seam side down into the prepared baking dish.
- Cover rolls with remaining tomato sauce (*all over* - you don't want the edges to get dry during baking) and cover with remaining mozzarella cheese.
- Tent foil over the baking dish (without it touching the cheese) and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 10 minutes.
Leslie Haasch
Thanks, Kristi!
kristi@ishouldbemoppingthefloor
These look so fantastic and colorful with all of those veggies packed in!! Great meal to have as leftovers for sure! #client