Lasagna Roll Ups

Happy New Year! Hopefully I'll be posting more often in 2012. I've been cooking a lot, but admittedly got very discouraged that I can't seem to scrounge up much traffic for my little bloggy.

So, new year... new name. It's definitely very "me" so we'll see what happens!

Every year I have a small Christmas party with my closest friends. I love playing hostess and getting my group of people together to hang out, eat, and chat. Planning my menu is one of my favorite things and I look forward to it all year.

This year I made lasagna roll ups as the main course and WOW! Were they ever DELICIOUS! Here is what they looked like before putting the top layer of sauce on them.

I wound up combining two different recipes to come up with these bad boys. I took the Bacon Sauce from a recipe Beau MacMillan shared on The Best Thing I Ever Made and threw in some ground beef to go with it. Then I used a recipe on allrecipes and adjusted the serving size to make the roll ups themselves.

Here are the two original recipes:
Bucatini with Bacon Sauce and Meatballs
Lasagna Roll Ups

Here is my mashup which very generously serves 8. It could feed at least 10 people, easily.

Ingredients:

7 or 8 strips regular bacon

1 large onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes

1 pound ground beef

5 cups ricotta cottage cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

4 egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon onion powder

24 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 tsp or so of sugar

Cut the bacon into pieces. In a dutch oven, cook over medium heat until almost crispy. Don't drain.

Add the onions to the pan. When the onions are almost cooked and start to become translucent, add the garlic and salt and pepper to taste.

Cook for 1 to 2 minutes.

Add tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer on low for about two hours.

Add the sugar to taste (or omit it completely)

Brown the ground beef. Drain. Add to the sauce.

Spoon half the sauce into a greased baking pan. (I wound up using a 9 x 13 plus a small square disposable pan.)

Combine ricotta cheese, parm cheese, egg, and onion powder.

Spread 1/4 cupful on each noodle.

Carefully roll up and place seam side down over meat sauce.

Top with remaining sauce.

Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Cover and bake at 375 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. Here's to an AMAZING 2012!!!!

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Are you hungry for more bacon recipes? Check out the bacon fest going on over at Eat at Home!