Hungry Wednesday "Fake Lasagna"

This recipe originally appeared in the March 2002 issue of Real Simple magazine called, ‘Fake it Don't Make it". Real Simple's January 2009 issue featured Readers' Favorite Recipes and this fake lasagna was printed again.

I love Lasagna, I just hate all the cheese. Being lactose intolerant doesn't make eating Lasagna any easier on the old tum-tum. Being able to make a delish meal under 30 minutes intrigues me.. so of course I tried it. This recipe boasts a 15 minute prep time and a total time of 55 minutes.

Last-minute lasagna

1 24- or 26-ounce jar pasta sauce
2 18-20-ounce refrigerated large cheese ravioli
1 10-ounce box frozen chopped spinach, thawed and excess water squeezed dry
1 8-ounce bag shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated Parmesan

 Heat oven to 375° F.

Spoon a thin layer of sauce over the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Cover with a single layer of ravioli. Top with half the spinach, half the mozzarella, and a third of the sauce. Repeat with another layer of ravioli and the remaining spinach, mozzarella, and half the remaining sauce. Top with another layer of ravioli and the remaining sauce (not all the ravioli may be needed). Sprinkle with the Parmesan. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until bubbly, 5 to 10 minutes more.

Yield: Makes 6 servings

My thoughts:

I used 2 16 ounce bags of ravioli from Fresh and Easy; a Parmesan Chicken filled ravioli and Spinach and Cheese filled ravioli. Even though this was slightly shy of the 20 ounces the recipe called for, my baking dish is square and probably would not have held all 40 ounces of raviolis. If I were using the 9X13 dish I would suggest having.a third bag of ravioli on hand.  I forgot to defrost my spinach prior to prep and had to stop and do a quick stove top defrost. I tossed the thawed spinach in the strainer and used the bottom of a plastic tumbler to squeeze out the excess water. I would also suggest having two jars of sauce on-hand. I ran out near the top of the lasagna. Luckily I had an extra jar on hand. Choose a sauce that you would use to dip bread in...I can't stomach yucky sauce.. I'll pay an extra $2.50 a jar for good sauce.  Mmmm I love Trader Joe's Marinara Sauce in a can.. I could eat it straight with a spoon.

I'll make this again for sure. First Born was excited we were having it for dinner tonight. I think I'll add sliced mushrooms next time.. Arrgghh.. I hate blogging about food when I am hungry. If you try it.. let me know what your family thought!