Easy vegetarian bean & cheese lasagna roll ups

The Crum family is currently on a vegetarian diet (when we're at home).  Soon we will be switching an (almost) vegan diet.  I hope to share some interesting recipes as we embark on this adventure into health as a family.

This week's recipe is Bean & Cheese Lasagna Roll-ups.  I have to admit, I was not sure about how these would turn out.  They were good, my boys even ate them and wanted more (Monkey is fairly picky).

Ingredients:

9 Lasagna Noodles

3 cups White Beans, drained & rinsed

1 small container Ricotta Cheese

1/4 cup Parmesean Cheese

1/4 cup Feta Cheese

3 cups Pasta Sauce

optional additions: mushrooms, diced onions, garlic, spinach, roasted red pepper

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Boil noodles until al dente.

In a separate bowl, combine beans, cheeses, and any additions you prefer.

Cover the bottom of a cake pan (I used 9x9) with a shallow layer (about 1 cup) of pasta sauce.

Drain noodles and rinse with cool water.

Lay 1 noodle out flat, cover with a thin layer (1/4 inch) of bean and cheese mixture.

Roll noodle into a thick spiral.

Place noodle, seam down, into the pan with sauce.

Roll all noodles in the same manner.

Top with the remaining pasta sauce.

Cover pan with foil.

Cook 25-30 minutes, until heated thoroughly.

Serve hot.

Recommended sides: Spinach salad, Brussels Sprouts, Carrots, Oranges, Pears, Apples

Preschool Party #2

Bubble Experiment

For our second preschool party, we had 5 children, ages 1, 2, amost 3, 4, and 5.  Wow, what a group!  We had a great time!  We started our party with a story about Noah's Ark and playing with Monkey's ark.  We practiced putting the animals in and talked about the story.  Next we did 2 experiments from 60 Quick and Easy Science Experiments.  We made our own animal puzzles out of some thrift store books.  We played Miss Melody Kitty Matching Game.    Had some play time in the boy's bedroom/playroom.  We ended the night with rest time and Veggie Tales.  A great time.  We are looking forward to our next preschool party!

Miss Melody Kitty

Making Goop

Post Party Pleasure

We love parties, birthday parties are extra fun.  We had a fantastic time celebrating Crackers' first birthday yesterday.  Friends and family came and shared snacks and cakes, laughs and presents.  It was great.  We really missed our friends that were snowed in, and our family members that were sick and could not make it.  The boys stayed up HOURS past their bedtime and one of them had a hard time going to sleep. 

Even though we had an amazing time at Crackers' party, I think the best time of night was after everyone had left.  I took Crackers up to his room and read the first story out of his new Bible storybook, then snuggled.  Randy brought Monkey up a few minutes later and the little guy insisted on sitting on the arm of the recliner.  Randy and I sang with them, then Randy read the first story out of the book to Monkey.  And followed it with Monkey's favorite bedtime book.

Randy and I had spent some time previewing story Bibles and settled on this one.  The Adventure Bible Storybook is wonderfully written, with beautiful artistry.  The boys loved looking at the pictures while we read the stories.  I really look forward to using this every day with them.