My Roll-Ups and My Weekend

This weekend was a super fun one that I'm going to tell you all about and even include some recipes. Whaatttt?! Yep. Full of deliciousness. 

Friday night I hung out with one of my friends at her place while we cooked and watched a throwback, Maid in Manhattan. She found this delicious Lasagna Roll-Up recipe that we worked off of that was seriously mouth watering. It can be made vegetarian or with meat, depending on your preferences.

Ingredients:

12-15 uncooked lasagna noodles (depending on size of your noodles - I had thinner ones - and how much mixture you would like to put)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

2 1/2 cups (one 10 oz package) shredded part-skim (or made with 2%) mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 package (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 jar spaghetti sauce (I still recommend the Bertolli Olive Oil, Basil & Garlic)

Directions:

I posted this on Snapchat and wanted to share it here too. 

1. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions, drain and lay out on wax paper to avoid sticking.
2. While cooking, in a large bowl combine all other ingredients and mix fairly well. You can also preheat the oven to 375* at this time.
3. Once the noodles are done cooking and are laid out, spread cheese mixture over each noodle and carefully roll up. I used about 1/3 of a cup per noodle.

4. Pour enough spaghetti sauce to cover the bottom of an ungreased baking pan. Place roll-ups seam side down over sauce. Top with remaining sauce and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until heated all the way through and the noodles are baked to your liking. 

*Some great ways to add meat to this is to have some meatballs on the side or to use a sauce that includes meat.


We also made an Autumn Chopped Salad that was found from the blog Espresso and Cream.

Ingredients: 

2 chopped romaine lettuce heads

2 medium pears

1 cup cranberries

1 cup chopped pecans

8 slices of thick-cut bacon cooked crisp and crumbled

4 to 6 oz. crumbled feta cheese

Poppy Seed salad dressing

Balsamic Vinaigrette 

Instructions:

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except the salad dressings. For the dressings, add in based on your preference. We did about a 65% PS to 35% BV ratio and were pretty generous with it.

Tips:

• This salad is also super delicious with green apples instead of the pears.
• I tried it with turkey bacon and it wasn't the same, what-so-ever
• Also very good with raw spinach

Saturday I went to a Breast Cancer bingo fundraiser held by my friend's mom. It was a packed house and a ton of fun. She is taking part in the Avon 39 Washington, DC in May and held this event as a way to raise money. Attendees donated $30 (or more) to participate in bingo. All the bingo round prizes were Vera Bradley (woohoo!) and they also had door prizes, raffles, food, and more, with all proceeds going towards her goal.

I went in and was basically throwing my money everywhere. Food? Sure, I'll eat a million extra calories today. Extra bingo boards? Here you go. Raffles? Why not, the money is all going to a great cause! - I was just expecting to have some fun and head home but I ended up winning the 50/50 raffle and a really amazing smelling set of Yankee Candles!

Also, all attendees who signed up at least two weeks in advance received a nice bracelet. I've recently really gotten into those online yard sale pages on Facebook so I'm thinking what I'd like to do is put the bracelet up for sale and whatever money I make for it, I will double it (up to $100) and donate it. Maybe the next person could do the same thing and start a really awesome donation chain? I've given up Facebook for Lent so I'm going to give this a shot as soon as I get back on.

In the mean time, if you would like to donate, please consider donating to my friend's mom's page. You can find her page here: http://info.avonfoundation.org/goto/jenschwab 

Sunday was just spent winding down and relaxing. I also spent the day trying to finish this delicious dessert bar thing that I bought at the fundraiser on Saturday. It was basically a HUGE Golden Graham bar - the graham cracker cereal, chocolate, marshmallows, delicious gooeyness.

I hope you had as great of a weekend as I did, and I hope you consider donating to Jen's page. Talk to you all soon!

Five Frozen Lent Options

We are officially in Lent. While not everyone gives up meat, most do try to practice no meat on Fridays. So today, I'd like to present you with some frozen options for those who are in a hurry and don't have much time to cook.

1. Quorn Chik'n Nuggets - I discovered these through my cousin. Her husband is a vegetarian and LOVES these. I was planning on giving up meat so I gave them a shot and boy, they legit taste like chicken nuggets. I enjoy them so much that I always have a box or two and eat these versus "real chicken" nuggets. - You can cook them in the oven or microwave but I personally really like using the oven. The crunch is awesome.

2. Trader Joe's Salmon Burgers - My mom gives up meat every year and she really likes these A) because they're really good and B) because you can eat them as a burger or just with whatever sides you'd like. - The box provides cooking instructions for grilling, oven, skillet or microwave. I like this because I don't have a grill (I live in an apartment and they're not allowed) and the thought of a microwaved salmon burger really grosses me out. Their turkey burgers don't even have cooking instructions for skillet/oven and that's probably because they cook really weird with those methods. It's a great thing that these cook so nicely in a skillet or oven.

3. evol. Butternut Squash & Sage Ravioli - Yum, just yum. I know most people eat a lot of pasta when not eating meat so this is a good alternative. - Cooking methods: microwave or oven.

4. TaDah Falafel Wrap - I actually have not tried this, my mom has. I found it in the Target frozen aisle and thought "Hm, my mom might really like this." and she did. - Cooking methods: microwave or oven. My mom will not use the microwave unless it is the ONLY option, so she used the oven.

5. - evol. Truffle Parmesan Mac & Cheese - Who doesn't like mac and cheese? Really, name me someone who doesn't.. You can't - unless they're lactose intolerant. SO. GOOD. That is all. Oh, and also, I've only seen the evol. foods at Target. - Cooking methods: microwave or oven.

These are obviously also great for people who don't eat meat in general. Do you have other suggestions that fit in the quick and easy category? Next week I'll be sharing some delicious looking "from scratch" options for Lent.

Are you giving up something other than meat for Lent? If so, what? I am. This year I decided to give up Facebook. If you knew me personally, you'd know how tough that is for me. I am trying to not have meat on Fridays also. I will say, this Lent has probably been the most self-reflective for me and honestly, it's been wonderful. I hope you've been having a good Lent this year as well!