Chase Freedom Rewards 5x Grocery Bonus Sunday Recipe: Lasagna

Welcome to the eighth in our Chase Freedom / Trader Joe's series of maximizing Chase Ultimate Rewards points using the Chase Freedom card and Chase Exclusives while eating well for less. Here are the past posts:

We're now up to $1350 in spend via 28 transactions. With Chase Exclusives, that equates to:

1350 base points

5400 bonus points (4x, on top of 1x base)

135 as 10% bonus on 1350 base

280 for 10 bonus points for each of 28 transactions

7165 Total

A lot of people wonder how New Yorkers manage with such tiny kitchens–the answer is that many barely cook, either doing takeout or heating up prepared foods from the grocery for their weekday meals. A lot of prepared foods and takeout isn't too good for you, however, so I try to make something on the weekend that we can have leftovers of at least once during the week, and that my son can have for lunch. Something he'll like and eat, but which is also pretty nutritious. This Lasagna recipe fits the bill, and the great thing is that it takes me less than 15 minutes to put together from Trader Joe's ingredients (plus about 50 minutes of baking time). My version is vegetarian and we don't miss the meat at all–there's plenty of flavor from the marinara sauce, spices, fresh ricotta, spinach and mix of parmesan and mozzarella cheeses.

Cost: ~$20 for the (prorated cost of ingredients used)

UR Points:

Only 112 points for the prorated $20 spent on one transaction, at Trader Joe's; but see our total UR points above for total earned to date on grocery spend of $1350

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Total baking time: ~50 minutes

Shopping List, Lasagna

3 cans of Trader Joe's Marinara sauce with extra virgin olive oil

1 box of Trader Joe's no boil lasagna noodles

1 tub of Trader Joe's traditional ricotta

2 bags of Trader Joe's organic shredded mozzarella

1 bag of Trader Joe's shredded parmesan cheese

1 bag of Trader Joe's pesticide free or organic frozen spinach

Trader Joe's dried spices: oregano, basil and red pepper flakes, optional

Chase Freedom Rewards 5x Grocery Bonus Sunday Recipe: Lasagna

Lasagna Recipe, makes 1 9″ by 13″ pan of lasagna, about 8 servings

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Put about 2 cups of frozen spinach in a microwave safe dish and microwave about 1 minute, until defrosted. Add entire tub of ricotta, freshly ground black pepper to taste, and blend thoroughly.

Open all three cans of marinara sauce, pour 2 1/2 cans into a large pyrex dish and microwave 3 minutes. Sprinkle Italian herbs (basil, oregano, rosemary, marjoram) and red pepper flakes to taste, and stir into sauce.

In large bowl, mix together 1.5 bags of organic mozzarella and about 2 cups of shredded parmesang

Lightly spray 9″ x 13″ lasagna or roasting pan with olive oil spray, or lightly rub olive oil over bottom and sides.

Spread about 2 ladefuls of marinara sauce over bottom. Arrange 6 lasagna noodles over (they will overlap slightly). Ladles more marinara sauce to cover, then use two spoons to dot spinach ricotta mixture over. Generously sprinkly mozzarella-parmesan mixture over.

Repeat layers two more times, then place a final layer of lasagna noodles, the remaining sauce (make sure noodles are well covered with sauce) and a light sprinkle of the remaining cheese mixture.