This week's Craving Ellie in my Belly recipe is going to be a rewind. Peggy from Pantry Revisited chose Tuna Noodle Casserole, which I am still not quite brave enough to attempt just yet. I don't know; there's just something about tuna that just repels me. Any time I try to eat it (usually after years of not eating it) I still feel the same way, so I just don't see that changing anytime soon. I'm sorry, Peggy! I'll make sure to cook along with you next time!
So, I wound up making Portobello Lasagna Rollups with Easy Tomato Sauce, which the group originally made all the way back in mid-November of 2008. I was not yet a member back then (in fact, that same week in November was the week before I gave birth to my second son), and honestly if I had the choice of making this two years ago I probably would have declined. Mushrooms are fine for me now, but they definitely have not always been my friend. I've come around on the mushroom thing in recent months, so I've been wanting to find ways to incorporate them into more dinners since my husband is such a fan of them.
Although you do have to set aside some time to prepare these lasagna rolls, they are very simple to prepare. The easy tomato sauce is just that; easy! It comes together in no time, with very little effort. After cooking lasagna noodles until just al dente, you lay them out flat and fill them with a mixture of vegetables (mushrooms, spinach) and cheese (ricotta, mozzarella) and some of the tomato sauce. You repeat this with all of the noodles, then you roll them up so that the filling remains inside. You place them in a baking dish, standing up, and top with even more cheese and sauce. They bake until bubbly and golden, and that's it!
Reviews were kinda mixed on this one. They tasted just fine, and the concept is a great one. It's lasagna without the labor intensive prep work! However, they did seem a bit lackluster; a bit more flavor, or perhaps some spice, would have helped greatly. My hubby threw a bunch of salt on his; I try to steer away from doing that, so I just settled for some crushed red pepper on top. Still, I would make this again. I think it would be great with some lean ground turkey or turkey sausage in the filling!
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Bri you are totally forgiven this time!! I think this would be really good with chicken though so try it sometime when you are in the mood for a noodle casserole. I'm not wild about tuna either, but hubby is. I did enjoy this one. It was not strongly flavored with the tuna because there was so much other stuff going on in it. Thanks for at least doing a rewind and cooking along. You are the BEST!!!
ReplyDeleteThe lasagna looks so good.
ReplyDeleteTry the tuna casserole but use chicken (as Peggy suggests above). IT's too good to pass up.
I haven't made this recipe either, so I need to have another rewind soon. Mushrooms sort of take on the flavor of what they are cooked with so if they aren't cooked with anything with flavor, I can see where they would be a little lackluster. Thanks for the tip of spicing them up a bit. They look wonderful and delicious from here, I must say.
ReplyDeleteYou bake your lasagna rolls like that?
ReplyDeleteWe bake ours with the end of the roll at the pan.
But ours is also not the same as the recipe from food network.
You can always try playing around with the sauce and filling's flavors to get a more desired result. My husband makes a meat sauce based off of his grandmother's recipe from Italy.
We also drown everything in cheese and salt... so that might be it.
I have got to bake this recipe! I have oodles of spinach in the frig and mushrooms are a weakness for me. I love all things mushroom. Great rewind choice!
ReplyDeleteI've noticed that tuna is a polarizing ingredient - people either love it or HATE it. I actually love it and the tuna noodle casserole is something I'm going to have to make very soon, but these rollups have been taunting me from the cookbook too! I'll be sure to add a bit more spice to them when I decide to make them. They look delicious!
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