Make Ahead Magic-in the form of turkey lasagna rolls

School will be starting for our family in just 9 days. That means homework, girl scouts, sticking to routines that were abandoned for summer fun. Since my husband is a teacher that means early morning out the door for him and endless meetings for him after work. Oh, and dance and piano lessons thrown in for good measure.

None of this is unique to our family-I have friends that hold multiple jobs, work weekends or have boatloads of children...In honor of all of us and how easy it is to grab takeout I am going to try to focus some effort on providing some make ahead deliciousness that goes beyond the standard baked ziti or mac & cheese. Something you can pull together on the weekend and enjoy it during the week.

Tonight I was inspired by my friend who is making lasagna...something I don't do well. I keep seeing lasagna roll ups and that seems a little more my speed...With that I give you Turkey Lasagna Rolls....

Turkey Lasagna Rolls

1 lb Ground Turkey
1 clove crushed garlic
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

8 lasagna noodles (not the "no need to boil" style-get old fashion boil ones)
1 15oz ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated pecorino romano
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 egg
1 tablespoon shredded fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried
Dash of black pepper
1 jar of your fave spaghetti sauce

1. As your water boils for the noodles brown the turkey. Mixing in the garlic and Italian seasoning.

2. Coat bottom of 13x9 baking dish with thin layer of sauce.

3. Cook noodles in boiling water-under cook them. Mine called for 10 mins and I took them out at 8-you want them to roll easily.

4. Mix ricotta, 1/2 cup mozzarella, egg, basil, 1/4 cup pecorino and black pepper to combine.

5. Remove noodles from water, place on a board, patting dry. Spoon a little sauce along the length of each one, then ricotta mixture and finally ground turkey. Remember, you need to roll these so don't overfill or the filling will all ooze out the side. Roll each noodle and place seam side down in prepared baking dish.

6. Cover the dish with remaining pecorino and mozzarella. Cover dish with foil and refrigerate up to 2 days. Bake at 350 degrees until hot and cheese bubbles-about 25 minutes.

Leftovers will keep 2-3 days....This recipe doubles/triples easily and is open to all sorts of variations-beef, veggie, alfredo sauce etc...