I break a rule that many frugal bloggers consider very important in keeping Grocery Costs low. That is Menu Planning. I don’t do it. I have tried and it just causes utter frustration. For one thing, with 5 kids I can’t always plan what an afternoon will bring and how much time I’ll have free to cook supper.
That does not mean we eat take-out or frozen dinners every night (which would definitely ruin the grocery budget.) Instead , on days that I know will be crazy in the afternoon I’ll try to get a meal in the crock pot ready. Other days I get creative and make up recipes using items that I have in my stockpile or freezer from sales along with fresh produce purchased that week.
One item that I find very helpful for easy to put together meals and always like to have in my stockpile is Tortilla Wraps. I stock up on packs of them at Aldis for 99 cents each.
So with the intention of using a Tortilla wrap in some fashion I checked my stockpile and 2nd refrigerator. One way I am making my grocery budget go further is by reducing the amount of beef we eat. So when I saw the pepperoni in the stockpile that I purchased on my last visit to Aldis, my brain thought Pizza Wraps. I had a jar of Pizza sauce and knew I had some mozzarella cheese too.
I still wanted to make it a bit more nutritious though, so I checked my produce. I grabbed the mushrooms and green pepper and then an item on the side door of the refrigerator caught my eye. It was Ricotta Cheese. That’s what inspired the Lasagna Pizza Wraps.
Here’s what I used in My Lasagna Pizza Wraps (feel free to change to fit your stockpile and tastes):
- 12 Tortilla Wraps
- 1 bag Pepperoni from Aldis
- 1 Jar Pizza Sauce
- 8 oz Bag Mozzarella Cheese
- 15 oz Ricotta Cheese
- Frozen Spinach (half a bag)
- 8 oz Mushrooms – diced
- 1 Green Pepper –diced
- 2 tsp Minced Garlic
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
I placed the diced mushrooms, green pepper and frozen spinach in a skillet and sauteed them with the 2 tsp of garlic. After cooking those for a bit I added 3/4 of the bag of pepperoni which I had cut into quarters. I continued cooking those until the mushrooms were cooked through and the spinach was warmed all the way through.
Then Add the Ricotta Cheese and mix together with the vegetable mixture.
I brushed the bottom of my dish with olive oil (since I’m out of Cooking Spray) and spooned some of the mixture in a wrap and rolled them.
Since I am feeding 6, I used 2 pans. The 9×13 fits 7 wraps and a small pan with 5 wraps.
Pour pizza sauce over the top of the wraps and sprinkle on desired amount of Mozzarella Cheese. To make it more like pizza I placed the reserved pepperonis on top.
I covered the wraps with foil and cooked in the 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Then removed the foil and continued cooking for 5 minutes to brown the cheese a bit.
I served the Lasagna Pizza wraps with some romaine lettuce and organic cherry tomatoes that I picked up at Aldis too since they now carry Organic Produce.
The Kids all loved it even with the Spinach in them. My 9 year old asked if she could take them to lunch the next day. My husband also enjoyed the Lasagna Pizza wraps, but did ask if I could leave the Green Peppers out next time because he doesn’t like them cooked.
Here are a couple other meals that I used the Tortilla Wraps in:
If you are looking for another recipe with spinach that your kids might like you could try this Crockpot Recipe – Chicken and Spinach Kid’s Delight. Also, next Tuesday I plan on sharing a Crockpot Recipe that uses Frozen Kale. My kids liked this one too, so stay tuned for a new Crockpot Tuesday Recipe.
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