Ravioli Lasagna

Lenten meals don’t have to taste like Lenten Meals.  I grew-up eating PB&J, Mac & Cheese, Tuna fish, and fish sticks during Lent.  It wasn’t bad enough I had to give something up that I enjoyed but I had to forfeit satisfying my taste buds also.  On top of that were those fasting days where all I got was three meals and the best was cereal in the morning.

Well, things have changed.  I have done my own research and experimenting and developed some meals that can be enjoyed both during and outside lent. 

Note:

The baking dish should have high sides if you want more than two levels of Ravioli’s.  I used a standard 8x8 only to find that I had enough material left to do an additional smaller pan.  That was OK though, I just had more leftovers that were very easy to store in the freezer.

Ingredients:

·         2 cups ricotta cheese

·         1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach - thawed, drained and squeezed dry

·         1 1/2 to 2 cups of grated Romano cheese divided (I used 4 cheese Italian)

·         2 eggs (still don’t know why eggs don’t count as meat)

·         salt and pepper to taste

·         1 cup spaghetti sauce (I used an Artichoke Pesto Pasta Sauce)

·         1 (25 ounce) package frozen cheese ravioli (I used a mixture of Spinach & Cheese and Asparagus & Cheese ravioli)

Directions:

1.           Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

2.            Spray an 8x8 inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.

3.           Mix the ricotta cheese, spinach, 1 cup of Romano cheese, eggs, salt and pepper to taste in a bowl.

4.           Spread 1/4 to 1/3 cup of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of the prepared baking dish

5.           Place frozen raviolis on top in a single layer, flat side up.

6.           Spread about 1 cup of the ricotta mixture over the raviolis.

7.           Repeat the layers until the baking dish is almost filled. 

8.           The last row should be ravioli, spaghetti sauce, topped with the remaining cheese.

9.           Cover the dish with aluminum foil.

10.      Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, until the casserole is bubbling.   It took mine closer to 50 minutes,

11.      Remove the aluminum foil, and bake another 10 minutes to brown the cheese on top.

12.      Let sit for 10 minutes before serving