Cream Cheese Lasagna in a Cup

I have just recently discovered my love for lasagna.  I have seriously been missing out.  White lasagna, meat lasagna, veggie lasagna... it's all good.  After three weekends of not being at home, I have missed my kitchen and cooking.  Finally, today my husband and I went grocery shopping.  We got plenty of food for two weeks worth of dinners.  Tonight's dinner needed to be something quick and easy, though, since we didn't get home until the evening.  I wanted to make lasagna.  I gathered my ingredients for my filling, but I had not noticed that my ricotta cheese had spoiled since I used it last, and I had to throw it out.  That ended up being the key to this filling.  In place of the ricotta cheese, I used cream cheese. It made the creamiest filling I have ever had in a lasagna.  I'll get to the recipe in a moment.

The second good choice I made tonight was to make lasagna "cups" rather than one large lasagna dish.  We have a really hard time remembering to eat leftovers, so I try very hard not to make much extra when I cook.  Rather than making a full-size dish, I placed the lasagna noodles in my muffin tin.  Not only did that make really cute individual servings, but it allowed me to customize them.  In mine, I added diced mushrooms, something I love, but my husband can't stand.

Now for the recipe:

Ingredients (for four servings)
1/2 cup marinara sauce
1/2 cup cream cheese (softened, also I used reduced fat)
1 tbs parmesan cheese
1 tsp (each) garlic powder, onion powder, and Italian seasoning
Bacon bits (just eyeball it, you can't have to much bacon bits... optional)
Minced mushrooms (optional)

Stir all ingredients together over medium heat until mixed and heated through.
In a muffin tin, layer cooked lasagna noodles and filling, ending with filling. Top with grated parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

The cream cheese made the sauce extra rich and creamy, while the bacon bits added a slightly smokey flavor that accompanied the other flavors perfectly.  My husband has already requested this dish again for another night this week!  I call that a success =)

 

This is where I link up!!