Promises of Lasagna

WHOO! What a crazy week. It’s totally not been my week. The power went out at least three times this week for who knows what reasons. I’ve managed to do something to my shoulder that I’m not sure how to make it stop hurting. And my little baby girl has a stuffy nose & has been a hand full.  It’s funny how even when a little baby doesn’t feel so great they still want to play with all of their toys and smile and laugh. Sometimes I wish I had that mentality. She’s got a funny way of reminding me that maybe I’m taking things just a little too seriously. Things like that are so invaluable.

BUT! Aside from all of that, I did manage to get a good deal of things done this week too. I did some awesome home made projects that I’ll no doubt be posting on here. I also made some great tasting dinners...

A promise is a promise and as promised (did I say promise enough?) I made Lasagna Cups per the request of one of my lovely readers. (You’re all lovely, btw. Don't want you feeling left out, I love you very much!). So, I found this recipe while I was floating around on Pinterest. It's safe to say that I'm addicted to that place. If you'd like an invite to there let me know, I'll gladly send you one! =) Just leave me your email address here or you can email me and I’ll send you the invite as soon as possible. 

( lovehonorandwashthedishes@gmail.com ).

But anyways, my recipe is an adaptation from Can You Stay For Dinner. This recipe should make about 18 lasagna cups.

What you’ll need:

-1 lb of ground beef

-Salt

-Pepper

-½  large onion, finely chopped. (It should measure out to a little over a cup.)

-2 cloves minced garlic (I used the pre-minced garlic in a jar. If you do this is comes out to 1 teaspoon.)

-16 oz (2 small cans) tomato sauce  (You can also use a regular sized can of crush tomatoes, it’d give you a thicker sauce as opposed to the meatier sauce that I had using the canned sauce.)

-Dried oregano

-Dried basil

- Ricotta Cheese (I regretfully didn’t look at the actual oz size of the container. I imagine that it was about 16 oz.

-36 small square wanton wrappers. (I found them in the produce section. I know, I never knew you could find them in a grocery store either.)

-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

- A 12 cup muffin pan

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350

In a large skillet over medium heat cook the beef and onions. Season with salt & pepper for about 10 minutes or until the beef is fully cooked. Be sure to finely crumble the meat. (I also added a dash of onion & garlic powder here too, go figure right?)

Immediately after the meat is cooked add the minced garlic, and stir well. (Did I mention how much I love the pre-minced garlic?? Such convenience!)

Then add the tomato sauce & a few shakes of oregano. Stir well again!. 

(I personally think that you can add the last two steps together without it making some huge difference, but I didn't try it this time so I don't really know.)

Bring it all to a gentle boil. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes.

After the time is up remove the pan from heat & set aside.

In a large bowl combine the ricotta, a pinch or two of salt, pepper, a couple shakes of oregano & basil.

Mix well and set aside.

Coat the 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

Place one of the wanton wrappers into each of the 12 cups. Press it firmly into the bottom of the cup & up the sides.

Using no more than half of the ricotta mixture, divide it among the 12 cups. Gently spread it to make sure it covers the bottom evenly.

Using no more than half the meat sauce, spoon it in evenly over the ricotta filled cups.

Sprinkle in a pinch or two of mozzarella over the meat sauce.

Gently press another wanton wrapper on top of the mozzarella layer.

Repeat the process by distributing more ricotta, meat sauce and finally the rest of the shredded mozzarella.

Sprinkle a bit of oregano & basil on top of each cup if desired.

Bake for 10-20 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the wontons start to brown a bit. After  10 minutes pass be sure to keep a close eye on them, they can burn fairly quickly.

Let the cups cool for about 5 or so minutes. Remove from the pan & set aside to bake the last 6.

(If you have two muffin pans you can cook all 18 at once & I slightly envy you.)

Enjoy!