Consider Making Mom Dinner With This Easy Mini-Lasagna Recipe

I love the taste of lasagna, but the fact that we’re currently training for the half marathon  has us watching what we eat to keep the weight down. When I found this recipe that is made in muffin tins with those little won ton wrappers instead of thick lasagna noodles I though I’d give it a try. They are fabulous and I made them for my sister and brother in law who immediately asked for the recipe and will be making it regularly. You want easy to make and easy to share? This is it!

I found the recipe at a website I subscribe to, One Good Thing By Jillee. I made it exactly the way the recipe called for the first time so I’d know what I might like to alter. I found that using “hot” pork sausage instead of regular pork sausage gave the mini lasagna cups a bit more flavor. I also don’t use marinara sauce, I used my good ole’ Ragu spaghetti sauce. The recipe calls for layering the ingredients like you would in a pan of lasagna but with the size you’re working with I didn’t have room to layer. Instead I spread a good layer of ricotta on the bottom, the rest of the space is for the meat sauce and then mound the mozzarella cheese on top of that. Still tasty and no one can see the layers anyhow, so it’s all good.

WHAT YOU NEED:

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 lb of pork sausage
• 1 C marinara sauce
• 1.5 C ricotta cheese
• salt & pepper to taste
• 24 2-inch won ton wrappers
• 1.5 C shredded mozzarella cheese
• 2 T chopped fresh parsley (optional)

MAKE IT:

Brown and crumble the pork in the olive oil using medium heat.  Drain the excess fat and stir in the spaghetti sauce, heat through and set aside.

Spray your *muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray and lay two won ton wrappers, overlapped into the muffin tins make sure to press the bottom and sides to make room for the fillings.  Season your ricotta cheese with salt and pepper to your liking and put a tablespoon on top of each won ton wrapper.

Add 1 tablespoon of your meat mixture, then top with 1 tablespoon of mozzarella cheese.  The original recipe said to do another layer but I found that I didn't have room to do that so I just make it a healthy, equal amount of each filling and just do it once.

When fully assembled place in a 375 oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the mozzarella cheese is melted and the edges of the won ton wrappers are slightly browned.  Garnish with the fresh parsley if desired and serve up some fun!

*Note: At my sister’s we used the silicone muffin pan instead of the tin muffin pan I had at home. It was really hard to pick the silicone muffin pan up and move it without spilling the contents. My suggestion would be to use a tin muffin pan for this recipe. If you only have the silicone muffin pan it can be done, just make sure you have the pan on a cookie sheet while you’re filling it, then you can easily move it from counter to the oven and back.