In the dog days of summer, most people are loath to turn on their ovens, but I always think of it as lasagna weather. My sibling’s birthdays in July and August were occasions upon which they were allowed to control the culinary fate of the rest of the household. Ryan birthday comes first and, sensibly enough, he always decreed that my mother should make Lasagna Roll-Ups. Dawn, forced into making a choice a mere fourteen days later and feeling pressure to change it up, usually went with Chi-Chi’s Mexican Restaurant. (Despite her yearly pleading with my father not to reveal to the singing waiters at Chi-Chi’s why we were there, we have many photos of my sister as a sullen teenager with a sombrero crammed on her head, scowling at a softball-sized serving of fried ice cream with a candle stuck in it.)

I have nothing against Chi-Chi’s but I always felt like my sister got a raw deal, being robbed annually of those lasagna rolls. This recipe has ruined me for any other variety of lasagna. When I first tasted the layered version, it seemed like a slapdash disaster compared to the firm cheesy bundles that my mother would pull sizzling from the oven. Below, I’ll post my Great-Aunt Mary’s original recipe as well as a video showing how you can tweak it to your own tastes.

And here’s the original recipe.

Lasagna Roll-ups
Boil 1 box of noodles with 2 T salt. Drain on towel.
Mix together 1 carton ricotta cheese, 1/4 tsp. salt, a dash of pepper, 2 small packages shredded mozzarella, 3 T Romano cheese, 1/2 T parsley.
Place 1/4 c. mixture on each noodle and roll.
Place 1 c. of spaghetti in bottom of 9×13 pan. Add rolled up noodles and cover with sauce.
Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Add 1/3 c. water casserole and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!