[cooking] Lasagna cupcakes

Working from home has it's perks. Aside from having the luxury of working from my kitchen table and living in yoga pants, getting the laundry done and spending some QT with the pup and kitties; I also have some time to cook, try out a few new recipes and listen to new tunes and latest Audible purchases (will share a couple book reviews as soon as I wrap up listening Dead Wake and reading All the Light We Cannot See.)

Back to food - yeah! An old faithful that's tried and true (and one of D's faves) are lasagna cupcakes. Sounds downright strange, but man are these delicious.

Start off with your preferred meat sauce. I opted for a jar of Prego, doctored up with a 1/2 pound of italian sausage, a 1/2 pound of ground beef a dash of allspice, cinnamon and red pepper flakes. Oh and some sauteed carrots, onions and celery that happened to be in the fridge. But, hey, this adds time. The extra stuff makes for a tastier lasagnas, but they will still be super yummy if you opt to used plain old jarred marinara sauce, promise. So its your choice!

While your sauce simmers, get your layers ready and prep your full-size muffin tins with a good coat of non-stick cooking spray. And now's the time to preheat your oven to 375 degrees. 

(Always thought these would be fun to make in mini muffin tins too, but would be much fussier to assemble.)

Ricotta: 1 container of ricotta, some chopped fresh basil, a pinch of salt and pepper and a little bit of shredded parmesan - borrowed from the bag you're using for the cheese layer. 

"Pasta": Potsticker wrappers (round) work GREAT to layer the circular muffin tins. If you use wonton wrappers (square) you will need to use a juice glass to cut them into circles or just leave 'em as-is for a more unfinished lasagna. You can find both the wonton and potsticker wrappers in the grocer's produce area near the tofu and Shirataki noodles (my fave).

Cheese: 1 small bag of shredded parmesan and 1 large bag of shredded mozzarella. Or grate your own - I was feeling lazy! 

Now start assembling. First, push a potsticker wrap into the bottom of each muffin tin. Top with a tablespoon of tomato sauce, then ricotta, then cheese. Add another potsticker wrap on top of that and repeat sauce, ricotta, cheese. Voila! Make sure you're ending with the shredded cheese so you get a pretty, melty, cheesey top to the cupcake. Depending how much meat is in the sauce, you might have room in your muffin tins for three layers...mine just allowed for two.

Fill the empty muffin cups with a bit of water so they don't burn. Now pop them in the oven for about 20 minutes - check the tops to be sure they're not burning. That would be the worst //

Once they're out of the oven resist the temptation to dive right in with a big bite. Your mouth will suffer! Patience young grasshopper.

Once cooled a bit these are great eaten right away but they also reheat and freeze super well. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Bon appetit//