Ravioli Lasagna

Pasta is such a great comfort food.  It's filling and very easily can contain a little of something from every food group!  There's nothing better than the simplicity of an entire meal in one dish - unless it's pizza delivered to your door!

This recipe for Ravioli Lasagna is one that I tore from a page of Woman's Day magazine exactly four years ago.  I don't make it on a regular basis, but it's a nice recipe to add to my meal rotation to change things up every once in a while.

Ravioli and Sausage Lasagna

Here's What You Need:

4 links Italian turkey sausage

1 jar (7 oz) roasted red peppers, drained and coarsely chopped

1 Tablespoon chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil

1 jar marinara sauce

1 package (30 oz) frozen cheese ravioli, thawed

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Here's What You Do:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Remove the turkey sausage from the casing (I know, this part is a bit gross) and cook it over medium-high heat in a skillet.  Be sure to break up any chunks with a spoon.  Cook the sausage until it's no longer pink and remove from heat.  Stir in the roasted red peppers and the basil.

Spread one cup of marinara sauce in the bottom of a 2 quart baking dish.  Top the sauce with a layer of ravioli (about 12 of them).  Next, add a layer of sausage mixture, then the mozzarella cheese.  Top with 1 cup sauce, remaining ravioli and remaining sausage mixture, and marinara.  Cover wtih nonstick foil or take a piece of regular (cheap!) foil and spray it lightly with cooking spray!

Bake for 1 hour or until the ravioli are tender.  Uncover and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake 5 more minutes.  Let the lasagna sit for about 15 minutes before serving.  This meal serves about 6 depending on how hungry your dinner guests are.  You can always substitute the meat in this dish if you are looking for something different.  In fact, you could completely omit the meat from this meal and I think it would turn out just as yummy.  I rarely prepare Italian sausage except for ocassionaly grilling it in the summer.  Since I only make this once in a while, I go ahead and purchase the Italian turkey sausage.

What are YOU having for dinner tonight?!