Easy Lasagna

One day I was commenting to the checker at the grocery store about how much easier it is to make lasagna with those no boil noodles and she said, "Do you want to know an easier way?" I said, "Yeeeeeeees ......"

She said, "Use cheese ravioli."

This cuts out the step where you spread on ricotta or cottage cheese. Also, I usually slice the mozzarella cheese to make it easier to spread the ricotta on and that's kind of a pain. When you make it with frozen ravioli, all you have to do is layer it like this:

thin layer of sauce to prevent sticking (or I think you can use a little olive oil too)
Ravioli
Sauce
Cheese
Ravioli
Sauce
Cheese
Sauce
Layer of grated parmesan on top

Bake at 375 for about 50 minutes covered and then 10 minutes uncovered. It should be bubbling by then. Let it stand for 5 minutes before serving.

This is so easy, it's almost ridiculous. And it is sooooo good! I buy the frozen ravioli from Costco which gives me a large two layer lasagna and there is still enough ravioli leftover for a few servings. Then I buy a big bag of shredded mozzarella cheese from Costco and some Boboli pizza packs to have on another night to make sure I use the cheese up.

You can use any kind of sauce you want for the lasagna, but I would like to share my mom's recipe because it is really good.

1 lb. ground beef
1 large can stewed tomatoes (I used crushed tomatoes in thick puree instead)
1 can tomato sauce (your average soup can size)
1 packet Spagetti Sauce Mix (Last time I used McCormick's thick and zesty sauce, I believe)
1 tsp. garlic powder

Brown the beef, pour in the tomatoes and sauce (don't drain the tomatoes), then the seasonings. I recently had it over spaghetti and my friend who comes over every week for dinner was begging for more the next week. :)

Or you could make it really easy on yourself and use your favorite sauce in a jar. I love having such an easy lasagna recipe because I feel more motivated to make a decent salad since I'm not exhausted.

I hope you enjoy it! Another thing I wanted to mention: There was a place I went to called The Brick Oven that put pepperoni in their lasagna. It was really good. Just throw in a layer of that if you're a pepperoni fan.