Lasagna Alfredo Roll Ups

This is one of my favorite recipes I discovered on AllRecipes.com and I've made it a couple times now, and the version below is with my modifications to the original which you will find here. This is company worthy, in my humble opinion! It takes traditional lasagna and kicks it up a notch, makes it rich and creamy with the Alfredo and beautiful for presentation with the individually sized portions. Depending on your taste preferences you can also use finely chopped broccoli instead of the spinach as well.

Started with the counter full of ingredients - minced garlic, Italian seasoning, grated Parmesan, carton of cottage cheese, ground beef, fresh spinach, egg, salt, Alfredo sauce, lasagna noodles, shredded mozzarella and an onion.

I got a pot of water on to boil while I was pulling everything out and put the lasagna noodles in to boil for about 12 minutes.

Next I grabbed about 4 large hand fulls of spinach and threw them into a pan with a little bit of boiling water.

When the spinach was wilted, I put that in a colander in the sink and let that cool while I worked on the rest of the filling.

I wiped out the pan I'd used from the spinach and put the ground beef on over medium high heat to cook.

Diced up half an onion and threw that in with the ground beef.

Next came the minced garlic!

When the lasagna noodles were cooked through I laid them out on some napkins which I laid on top of a large cutting board so the noodles could cool and dry out a little.

When the ground beef mixture was done, I drained off the grease and added about 1 1/2 cups to the spinach (which I squeezed as much liquid as I could out of first) in a bowl.

Then came the cottage cheese and Italian seasoning.

Followed by the Parmesan cheese!

And some mozzarella for good measure.

Lastly came the egg and salt.

Filling mixture all combined and mixed up, ready for the noodles!

Started lining up the noodles on the napkins, pressing off any excess liquid with additional paper towels/napkins.

 Then evenly distributed the filling, probably about 1/3 cup per noodle (approximately). 

The remaining ground beef mixture went in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.

And was topped with about 1 cup of spaghetti sauce.

Once the filling was distributed it was time to roll up the noodles!

Once rolled, they were placed in the baking dish on top of the marinara.

Then I took about 10 ounces (half a bottle) of Alfredo sauce and drizzled it generously over the tops.

That was topped with about a cup (maybe cup and a half?!) of shredded mozzarella.

Covered loosely with foil and popped in the oven! The ooey gooey creamy rolls emerged a half hour later.

The cheese and Alfredo blending with the marinara.

All plated up and ready to enjoy! I REALLY enjoy this dish. My husband said he'd prefer it with no spinach and all marinara, no Alfredo - but to me the Alfredo really "makes" the dish. That creaminess blended with everything else gives it a touch of decadence that makes this special I think! There are lots of variations you can try - all marinara, all Alfredo sauce, shredded chicken instead of beef, no meat at all, broccoli instead of spinach, etc. Change it up to your family's liking and enjoy! :)

Modified from Lasagna Alfredo Roll-Ups by MARBALET from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

• 8 lasagna noodles
• 1 lb ground beef
• 4-6 cups fresh spinach
• 1/2 small to medium onion, diced finely
• 1 16-oz container cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 TBS minced garlic
• 1 TBS Italian Seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups marinara sauce
• 10 ounces Alfredo-style pasta sauce
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add lasagna noodles and cook for 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain well and lay out on paper towels or napkins and allow moisture to be absorbed.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat add about 1/2 cup of water, bring to a boil and wilt spinach, stirring frequently. Remove pan from heat and drain spinach and allow to cool.
3. Wipe out pan and return to medium-high heat, add ground beef, minced garlic and diced onion. Allow to cook about 10-15 minutes, or until beef is completely cooked through and onions are tender. Drain grease.
4. Add cooled and drained (pressed) spinach to a bowl, add 1 1/2 cups ground beef mixture to the bowl and stir in cottage cheese, Italian seasoning, 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, salt and egg.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
6. Make sure noodles are evenly laid out. Evenly distribute the cheese/beef mixture on the noodles. Roll up each noodle from the short end, jelly-roll style.
7. In a 9 x13 inch baking dish, pour the remaining beef mixture and about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of marinara sauce along the bottom, evenly distributed. Arrange the rolled noodles, seam side down, in the dish. Top rolled noodles with about 10 ounces of Alfredo sauce, a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese (if desired) and cover with 1 to 1 1/2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese. Cover loosely with foil and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes or until hot and bubbly and the cheese is melted. Serve hot and enjoy!