Lasagna Cupcakes with Homemade Ricotta Cheese

These lasagna "cupcakes" are so pretty and simple to put together!

Lasagna Cupcakes

12 Small Wonton Wrappers
1c Thrive Ground Beef, rehydrated (Thrive Sausage Crumbles would also be good here)
1c Pasta Sauce
1 Recipe Homemade Thrive Ricotta Cheese (recipe below)
1T Italian Seasonings
1c Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Parmesan Cheese

Preheat your oven to 375 and grease a 12 cup muffin tin. In a small bowl, combine ricotta cheese with Italian seasonings. Set aside. Put one wonton wrapper in each muffin cup. Press the wrapper into the bottom of the cup, allowing the edges to come up and out of the top of the cups.

To each cup, and in the following order, add about half a tablespoon of sauce, ricotta and ground beef. Press a second wrapper over the fillings and repeat the layers. Use your judgement here and add more or less of any of the ingredients depending on your family's preferences. Sprinkle the top of each cup with 1 to 2 tablespoons of shredded mozzarella and a little parmesan cheese.

Bake uncovered at 375 for 20 minutes or until cheese is brown and bubbly. Allow the cupcakes to rest and cool for 10 minutes before removing them from the tins - this will allow the ingredients to firm up and hold their shape.


Why would you make ricotta from scratch when you can just buy it at the store? Because it tastes so good. It is rich and creamy and fat free. And made from Thrive!

Homemade Ricotta
Thanks to Misty for figuring this out!

8c Water
1 1/2c Thrive Instant Milk
3T Vinegar
1/2t Salt

Combine water, milk and salt in a large pot and bring to a boil, stirring frequently to prevent the milk from scalding. As soon as the milk begins to boil, turn the stove off and stir in the vinegar. Stir for one minute, cover and set aside. Your ricotta will be ready in as little as 30 minutes, but it will be tastier if you can give it a full 2 hours. After it rests, strain it through a fine mesh strainer (lined with cheesecloth if you have it). If you prefer a dry ricotta, leave it to drain for up to thirty minutes.
 Store your fresh ricotta in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

You can expect to see more recipes along this line - I'm thinking taco cups, nacho cups, pizza cups... there are a lot of possibilities here!