Recipe: Spinach Lasagna Roll-Ups

Way back when, in the practically prehistoric days of the internet (I’m talking 2009 here), we ran a reader recipe contest. Quick Weeknight Meals gave us a nice collection of really memorable and delicious weeknight meals. Here’s one of my personal favorites: Nicole’s lasagna roll-ups, which boast the trifecta of being easy, quick, and rather good for you.

Upon retesting, these pasta pinwheels turned out to be one of the easiest (and tastiest) dinners I’ve made all month, and given that they’re stuffed with low-fat cottage cheese and oodles of spinach.

Nicole, the originator of this recipe, said about it: “I adore Italian food, and this is an easy and healthy way to end my day.”

I did make a few changes from her original. She used Veggie Shreds; I use plain shredded cheese. She suggests using some dried spices to flavor the filling; I used a couple cloves of garlic, which made these just garlicky enough for my taste.

This is just the simplest and easiest way to get lasagna on the table on a weeknight. I made the filling as the pasta cooked, then rolled them up and baked them. My husband — ever the pasta-lover — was a fan of lasagna even in this simplified form, and I loved the ease and lightness of the recipe, too. A winner!