Ravioli Lasagna

Last shopping trip, I had the ingredients for lasagna in my cart until I remembered Rachael’s Ravioli Lasagna, that was featured on the Rachael Ray Show. Anything that tastes like lasagna without the hassle sounds good to me, so I went around the store again and swapped a few things out (put back the ricotta and picked up cheese ravioli, etc.).

I substituted sweet Italian turkey sausage and a package of Boca crumbles for the mixture of beef, pork & veal (Don didn’t know until I told him). And I halved the recipe but still used a whole can of tomato sauce, and added extra cheeses (mozzarella and asiago). When I tasted the sauce it had that "missing something" taste so I added some fresh sage and Italian seasonings, in addition to the fresh basil.

I thought it tasted better this way, in a casserole, vs. cooking ravioli and spooning sauce on top. The flavors mixed together. I’m not very organized so it took me about an hour to throw this together. I think it would have taken me just as long to make a regular lasagna. On the other hand, there were fewer dishes to clean up.

One comment I have is that I used about 2/3 of a package of ravioli, for half the recipe (which calls for 3 family size packages). That was more than plenty. I'd go by eyeballing the amount rather than a particular quantity stated in the recipe.

Another keeper!