The Jar Lunch: It’s like a bag lunch or a bento lunch, but the next big thing is lunch packed in a good ol’ mason jar. I have to microwave my lunch at work, so metal containers won’t work and heating up plastic has me worried. We often simply fill mason jars with leftovers, but sometimes it is fun to come up with a clever jar lunch and make a big batch. Lunch for the whole family is already packed.
Pasta and cheese are not at the top of my list of healthy foods, but sometimes what you need is a healthy-sized portion of something delicious. It’s the whole concept behind many of the frozen diet meals on the market, only better and cheaper. Why not make your own small lasagna portions in wide mouth half-pint jars to take for lunch with a giant salad?
Little Lasagnas with Portobello Mushroom
Makes 8 small servings in wide mouth half-pint jars
Ingredients:
8 lasagna noodles
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 large portobello mushroom
1-1/2 cups marinara sauce
3/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
1 egg
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package directions. After draining, rinse with cold water. Slice the noodles in half lengthwise.
Roughly chop the portobello mushroom. If you prefer, you may opt to remove the gills first. Heat a sauté pan over medium heat. Add olive oil and once hot, add the mushroom to the pan. Sauté until soft and browned, 8-10 minutes.
Place 8 wide mouth half-pint jars on a baking sheet. Add a tablespoon of marinara sauce to the bottom of each jar. Fold each piece of noodle back-and-forth a few times and stuff two into each jar, ruffled ends up. Add two more tablespoons of marinara sauce evenly on top of the noodles. Divide the mushroom pieces evenly between the jars, stuffing them down between the folds of the noodles.
In a small bowl combine the cottage cheese, egg, parsley, and garlic. Divide the cottage cheese mixture amongst the jars and spread evenly. Top each jar with two tablespoons of mozzarella and one tablespoon of parmesan. Pat the cheese down slightly so it doesn’t cover the rim of the jar.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden around the edges.
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See our other Jar Lunches here.
krista and jess 
I would need to make it in the pint jar! Ha Ha! I LOVE lasagna!
You should totally do it in pint jars! Yum.
What a novel idea! I know that glass is obviously oven safe, but I’d never really thought about actually using jars to cook anything…
i luv recipes like this. but i don’t have any mason jars that size :(
You could make it in bigger jars so long as they are wide mouth. It would just be a less efficient use of space! Or, make bigger servings even.
I love this idea – beautiful photo!
I love this jar lunch idea, it’s fantastic. That looks great :D
Thanks!
Yum. We like to mix spinach in with the cottage cheese in our lasagna.
Loving the jar recipes by the way and probably do not say it enough. I have been wanting to switch up my lunch lately, so great to have some ideas on how to go about doing just that. Have a Great Weekend:)
Thanks for the positive feedback!
Brilliant! I’m learning so much from you.
These are just so darn cute. My mom used to make “lasagna swirls” where she’d roll one noodle up with filling inside and stand them on end (many packed into a pan) to bake–wonder if that would fit here? It might be a little tidier than the stuffing-stuff-down-inside solution. :)
That was my initial vision, but the noodles made contact with the lid. It would work in bigger jars, though, if you don’t mind the less efficient use of the jar. And I wanted that cheesy top, so plan B worked better.
hmmmmm…wonder about now sending them through a pressure canner?
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I’ve done a few jar lunches, but mainly salads. I LOVE the sound of this!! :)