Ravioli Lasagna

Lasagna is one of my favorite Italian foods, but I almost never make it because I don't normally have the time. After this week that is going to change for sure. This was by far the quickest and easiest lasagna recipe EVER. Seriously. And as an added bonus you get to see the pictures. Now if only computers had smell-o-vision...


Here are the ingredients:
1 can spaghetti sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1-lb ground beef
1 package of frozen spinach
1 large package of frozen cheese ravioli (you'll need about 48 ravioli)
Shredded mozzarella cheese for the top
spices/garlic to taste
baking dish suitable for lasagna (9x13 should be sufficient)

After setting the oven to preheat at 350, I started with the sauce. I mixed the spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, garlic, various Italian spices, and about a cup of water in the logical cooking vessel, a saucepan. I used low heat because it seems like I always wear spaghetti sauce if I cook it any higher. While the sauce was warming up I browned the beef in a pan and drained off the excess fat.

Before adding the beef to the sauce I ladled about 1/4 of it onto the bottom of my baking dish like so:
Layer two was the ravioli. I was careful not to overlap too much.
Next came layer three, half of the sauce (now with the meat in it), and then layer four, the spinach. This was my first time working with frozen spinach (as opposed to canned) and I learned an important tip from my mom: wring out the spinach between some paper towels before you put it in the lasagna. I squeezed out at least half of a cup of liquid!
Layer five: the rest of the ravioli. As you can see I had 9 or so leftover so I used them to plug up some of the holes.
Layer six: the rest of the sauce.
Quite possibly my favorite layer, number seven: the cheese.
See, wasn't that simple? Just bake it in the 350 degree oven for 45 minutes and when it comes out it will look something like this:
And here's a side view so you can see the nice little layered effect. Now (for all you Monty Python fans) all we need is a nice path running down the middle.

That's the end of the pictures and the end of this recipe. I can't wait to try it out again with a different kind of ravioli (maybe spinach, or even something wild like portobello mushroom or lobster) or sauce (this would probably be AMAZING with vodka sauce). Thanks for playing along at home, folks. Be sure to drop me a comment and let me know how it turns out for you!

For the nutrition info and to see how to make some healthy substitutions for this recipe check out my note on Facebook here.

11 comments:

  1. Rich and I were wondering if you were going to bring some here to the Big X for us to sample.

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  2. We might be able to arrange something. I'm starting to think maybe I'm in the wrong industry, though... maybe I should be a caterer.

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  3. YUM. Thanks for that recipe! I'll be getting those ingredients on our next shopping trip! Sounds so good, and I can't believe I've never thought to do that.

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  4. You're welcome! My mom actually found the idea online somewhere a few weeks ago and sent me an email to ask if I thought I could make it. I thought the same thing as you when I read her email, how come I never thought of it??

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  5. Rich and I look forward to receiving samples of your recipes. As far as a catering business, I'll plug it on BDGJM in a minute.

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  6. it was soo good im thinking of making it sometime but may add artichokes and the vodka sauce does sound good too....

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  7. Ooo... I'm thinking artichokes instead of spinach, and vodka sauce. That would probably be amazing!

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  8. Duuuuude, I wish I read this blog entry before pulling a random crappy dinner out of my..a*$ ..anyway, its a great idea, I want to try it sometime!
    ~P

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  9. This ravioli lasagna looks real good megan , I hope sometime when we get together you can make it for me.

    Dad

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  10. This was a big hit! Everyone loved it. I used Italian sweet sausage instead of ground beef.

    Mary Everitt

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  11. TRY MUSHROOMS REGOTTA AND SPINACH ON YOUR LASAGNA MARIO SAID

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