Differing Opinions, or why this would never be an Italian Food blog…

I’ve been meaning to make this “lasagna” recipe for a while.  In fact, I made a similar one about a year ago, with spinach, but it wasn’t as nice because I didn’t know what I was doing.  However, I found a great Pampered Chef recipe that dropped the spinach, and I was sold.

Thomas is not a fan of marinara sauce, whereas I LOVE red sauce dishes.  It’s hard to make Italian in our house because of the Northern Italy vs. Southern Italy mentality.
Usually, I’m able to connive Thomas to eat some form of Bolognese, with its hearty meat and red wine taste.  I usually start with a chunky garden vegetable sauce from a jar, add two cans of diced, roasted tomatoes, 2 lbs of browned ground beef, two bell peppers, and whatever various spices/garlic/onions/red wine that I can find in the house.  It all starts with the meat (and my beloved PC Mix and Chop) and ends in a lot of simmering, if I have a good hour or two to spare.

It’s not fancy, but by the time I’m done, there’s relatively little marinara flavor, or even sauce, left in the gravy, and Thomas can stomach it.
Now, my mother has a phenomenal recipe for lasagna, and if I had the patience, I would type it up for you.  However, A) I’m trying to only link recipes here since nothing comes from my own head, and B) only my mother can make that recipe.  No one else is allowed (unless related, of course)!    ;) 
Lasagna takes a lot of work.  While my mother has the patience to make up one or two lasagnas at a time, freeze them, and enjoy them at will, I can barely stretch my patience long enough to watch an hour of TV.  (Seriously, how did I ever watch TV without a phone or internet linked device in my hand?)

Lasagna roll ups, however, are a different story.  You can use whatever sauce you’d like, you make up your noodles and the filling, then distribute.  

 Roll them up, place them in 1/2 of your sauce.

Bake, make some cheesy garlic bread, salad, or whatever sides you’d like, and enjoy within the hour.

They’re pockets of yummy goodness.  Thomas liked them, and they made four really hearty leftover lunches. 

On a scale of apples to unicorns, I’d rate them as awesome!  I may never be able to convince Thomas that we should eat more red sauce, but I’ll take the little wins whenever I can.