Growing up I had the same hobbies and interests as other kids my age like dance, soccer, reading, gymnastics and the like, as well as some, well, nontraditional hobbies.
Hobbies like collecting anythingandeverythingrubberstamps in herds of caboodles, including one just for my embossing powders which you could sprinkle over wet-stamp ink, then hold over a hot burner causing it to melt and solidify into a 3-D shape of the stamp. Yeeeah.
Hobbies like imagining different career paths for myself than researching everything I could to learn more about them. FYI if you ever need to know what it takes to become an astronaut-dentist-phone switch operator at the White House, I’m your woman.
Hobbies like writing fan mail to “celebrities” like the Queen of England, Arsenio Hall, and, wait for it, Dave Coulier from Full House. Uncle Joey! Like, couldn’t I have at least written to hunky Uncle Jesse? And Arsenio Hall? What did I even say in his letter? I like your fist pump??
The craziest part is that “they” all wrote back. That’s right, I definitely had signed headshots of Uncle Joey, Arsenio, and the Royal Family taped to my closet door, right next to Jonathon Taylor Thomas and Kirk Cameron. Didn’t you?
Anyway, I have a new fan letter to write, and it’s addressed to Lazy Girls Ravioli Lasagna. The letter shall read something like this:
Dear Lazy Girls Ravioli Lasagna, Hi. My name’s Kristin, and I’m your biggest fan. The way you layer marinara sauce, frozen ravioli, seasoned ground beef, and cheese, then come out tasting like I slaved over a traditional lasagna all day tickles me pink.
See, lasagna is one of my favorite comfort foods, but sometimes I just to don’t want to take the time to boil a box of noodles, mix up a batch of cheese filling, then get all messy layering everything together. Your muss and fuss-free shortcut of using frozen cheese ravioli to bypass these steps is not only time saving, but absolutely delicious.
Nobody knew the difference and I took all the credit. You’re the best.
Write back soon! Love, IGE
free email bonus!
Dinner Made EASY!
simple yet flavorful recipes that take the stress out of dinnertime
Lazy Girl’s Ravioli Lasagna
Description
Lazy Girl's Ravioli Lasagna uses frozen cheese ravioli in place of boiled noodles and cheese filling. Total time saver, and nobody will know the difference!
Ingredients
- 1lb lean ground beef
- garlic salt
- pepper
- 24oz marinara sauce
- 1-1/2lbs frozen mini cheese ravioli (Do not thaw. Could use normal sized ravioli too)
- 6oz shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat, seasoning with garlic salt and pepper, until no longer pink. Drain then return to the skillet and set aside.
- Spread 1/4 cup marinara sauce in the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish. Add 1/3 the frozen ravioli, ground beef, sauce, and cheese. Repeat layers two more times.
- Cover with a sheet of non-stick sprayed foil then bake for 1 hour. Remove foil then bake for 10 more minutes, or until cheese is golden brown and bubbly.
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
Hearty, easy, and so, so yummy!
Dear IGE,
Just moved from my lovely home state of Iowa to Indiana… & you bring me right back. From reading and dance competitions to BEING MADLY IN LOVE WITH YOUR SUPER-EASY LASAGNA! Can’t wait to make it!!!
A little bit of IA love,
Theresa
Hi,
I’m dying to try this famous Gino’s marinara sauce. Do they sell it online?
Not only does this recipe looks incredible (it’s added to my meal plan already!!), your post just cracked me up. Love it!
Sounds like a yummy recipe.
Regarding traditional lasagna….I never boil the noodles. Simply go straight to layering uncooked. As long as they have enough of a sauce coating they will cook while the lasagna bakes. It doesn’t even require no boil noodles. Regular will do! A secret I learned from an Italian family. Keeps your squares nice and intact as well. Try it!
What a fabulous recipe! :) Thanks for sharing.
Realize that I am old and have had a bag of ravioli in my freezer for a long time. I never use them as I always overcook those little things and they get pretty slimy. How ingenious to layer them frozen and make a lasagne with them. I am seriously impressed and wonder why I didn’t think of that!! Oh you young women out there – so funny. As I relive my memories with my daughters, I remember the Full House period of oohing and ahhing AND the stamps and stickers. My Dana collected all of the Strawberry Shortcake mini-dolls. I have them in a old purse she used and they still have a wonderful fruity smell. Thanks for a trip down memory lane! I’m making the lasagne tonight – but will get a fresh bag of ravioli.
Oh my gosh, this is too funny! My husband was flipping through channels last night and I saw that Who’s the Boss was on – made him turn that on for a bit! Then a little later we found Full House was on another channel, so we watched a little bit of that. Ahh, the memories :)
I totally did the rubber stamping AND wrote for autographs–I was just a ‘little’ bit older than you ha! This recipe sounds delicious! I do a stove-top version–add browned beef to jarred sauce, bring to a boil, nestle in some frozen cheese ravioli and a few spoonfuls of cottage cheese mixed with a beaten egg. Simmer until the raviolis are done, sprinkle some shredded cheese on top pop the lid on to melt. Skillet Raviolasagna!
Oh goodness – caboodles! I haven’t thought about those in years. :)
You are hilarious! I was dying laughing about your uncle joey part! haha! And once again, genius recipe! So simple, yet so divine!
this looks fantastic! can’t wait to try it. :)
Can I have your rubber stamps and embossing powders? I still like to play with them.
I have made a spinach alfredo ravioli lasagna, but not a tomato sauce based one. I think my hubby would like yours better. I suppose I’ll add it to the menu next week.
This looks great. I made the skinny italian chicken last night and my kids even loved it. They kept coming through the house saying how good it smelled while i was cooking. I just wanted to say thanks. They are picky eaters and you make everything so easy.
:)
So glad you all enjoyed, Michelle! :)
Hi Kristin,
Question for you – have you heard from anyone else that all of your images don’t appear in Google reader in Firefox? I have no problems in IE, but Firefox won’t load the majority of your pictures. I was curious if this is just my issue? Thanks!
Hey Megan! I haven’t, but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening – thank you for letting me know! I’ll email you to get more details!
I use foxfire and I see all images…I was having problems with pdfs for awhile and found out there was a new version of foxfire…everything seems to work great now that I’m up to date on the version. Hope that helps.
Firefox*…it’s just been one of those days! ;)
Awesome……..easy and quick and Looking mighty good I may add.
ColleenB
Love this idea for a quick lasagna. And I think we could have been best friends as children, you crack me up! :)
Oh yum – this looks easy! I want this in ma belly!
xo Emily @ Hungry Delights
Holy cow, embossed stamps AND celebrity letter writing…that was the story of my tween years! I loved holding that piece of paper over the burner, waiting for the gold powder to melt together (the simple things). My celeb pen-pals were Bette Midler & John Candy. Bette said I was the wind beneath her wings, ha!
Bahahahaha, love it!!
Hahaha… you crack me up! I totally forgot about caboodles but I’m pretty sure my daughter could use one about now. And by the way you weren’t the only one with a thing for the goofy uncle on Full House. He was engaged to Alanis Morissette you know and she wrote that crazy bitter song about him… how rude!
Cut. It. Out.
Obvious Uncle Joey reference, yes, but also an homage to how I feel after reading that recipe. I definitely just had one of those “why didn’t I think of that!?” moments :-)