As a child, I wasn’t lasagna’s biggest fan. Every time I ate it I would get feel sick to my stomach. Almost like it was too much cheese for me…
Wait, what?!?! Too much cheese? Not freaking possible. ← Me as an adult.
I absolutely love cheese, cheese everything!! Favorite Cake? Cheesecake, although I feel like that is more of a pie and I just don’t get that. Pizza? Extra Cheese. Drunken noodles? Cheese. Can you see the pattern? To this day I still don’t understand why I didn’t care for lasagna back then. Now I make it about once a year. I’ve recently discovered spaghetti squash and I use that and make a low carb version of Million Dollar Spaghetti. This usually hits that lasagna craving so I don’t make it as much.
I was perusing through Pinterest a couple of weeks ago trying to figure out what I wanted to try next. I love taking recipes I find on Pinterest and making them my own. I feel like anything is customizable. I have been craving marinara sauce like nobody’s business since I fell off the Keto train a few months back.
I came across a 3 ingredient recipe for a Ravioli Bake (A.K.A. Lazy Lasagna) by Lilly at INSTRUPIX. Link here .
I think the concept really sounded easy, and pretty universal so I thought hey, I can try this. But let’s tweak a few things and make it our very own. We tested this out on a friend of ours and we didn’t even have to wait for the container to be returned. He ate it right on the spot.
Ingredients:
- Ground Beef – 1 lb
- Frozen Ravioli of any varietal – 25 oz package
- Favorite tomatoes sauce – 1 jar
- Onion – 1 medium
- Garlic – 3 Cloves minced
- Mozzarella Cheese – 4 cups (or more of your like me)
- Cottage Cheese or Ricotta Cheese – 16 oz
- Italian Seasoning, salt, and pepper to taste
I started off with a little olive oil in my pan and I toss in the minced garlic. Once the garlic has had a chance to saute a bit I add in my hamburger to brown. While the hamburger is browning I cut up my onions and toss in with the hamburger. I do prefer to season my meat a little with other spices like Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. I very much disliked underseasoned meat. While some of the meat is still a little pink I line a bowl with a paper towel and cover with a colander to drain the grease off of the meat. I toss the meat back into the pan to finish cooking.
Once all the hamburger has browned I add in the tomato sauce. Once everything is combined I try a sample of the sauce. I am too lazy to make/purchase ingredients to make my own most often. I typically end up trying a new flavor/brand each time. I tend to stick to garlic, veggie, or cheese tomato sauce. I do not care for anything with mushrooms, ain’t nobody got time for dirt.
I’ve seen recipes that suggest adding a thin layer of sauce to the bottom of the pan. In this instance, I did not. I would suggest maybe using some cooking spray if you opt not to do this. I did not have any issues with the ravioli sticking to the bottom of the pan. So, to each their own.
I began by creating my first layer of this dish with the frozen ravioli. I am not going to lie I was a bit suspicious of this. I was very concerned the ravioli would take forever to cook. I was also a bit concerned over choosing not to spray the pan or coating a layer of red sauce on the bottom of the pan.
My second layer was the meat sauce. Next the cottage cheese then a layer of mozzarella. Repeat. I was nervous that I was going to run out of ravioli, however, I had just enough.
I then baked this at 425° covered in tin foil for 45 minutes. Once the 45 minutes is up I then pull the dish from the oven, remove the tinfoil then broil on high until I get the color I like. In this house, we like our cheese a little bubbly and browned in all the right places. Once we have the color we are looking for we pull this dish out to sit for a few minutes. Plate and enjoy!
Directions:
- Preheat Oven to 425° F
- Brown Hamburger with onions and garlic
- Add tomato sauce, season to taste
- Layer ravioli in a 15 x 10 glass baking dish.
- Cover ravioli with meat sauce
- Cover meat sauce with cottage cheese
- Cover cottage cheese with mozzarella cheese
- Repeat
- Cover with tinfoil
- Bake for 45 minutes
- Remove tin foil
- Broil on high until cheese is brown and bubbly.
- Enjoy!
To see more recipes from Stella and Jay click here: Recipes
-Stella & Jay
