Ravioli & Zucchini Lasagna

Submitted by MsSally

"Found this on MSN when they did a daily special on zucchini recipes. Since my garden overfloweth with squash about this time of year I saved it here for safe keeping."

 

• Ready In: 40mins
• Ingredients: 8
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 2 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 1 pound total)
• 1 (26 ounce) package cheese ravioli (frozen large)
• 3 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 8 ounces lean ground beef (90% fat free)
• 1 (26 ounce) jar tomato and basil pasta sauce
• 1 cup 2% mozzarella cheese (shredded)
• 1⁄4 cup lowfat parmesan cheese

directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F Line cookie sheet with paper towels. Grease 2-quart ceramic baking dish.
2. Heat large covered saucepot of water to boiling over high heat. Add zucchini and cook 5 minutes. With tongs or slotted spoon, remove zucchini to prepared cookie sheet to drain. Return water to boiling. Add ravioli and cook until ravioli rise to the top.
3. Meanwhile, in 3-quart saucepan, heat 2 teaspoons oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook 8 to 10 minutes or until tender and lightly browned; transfer to small bowl. In same saucepan, in remaining 1 teaspoon oil, cook beef over medium-high heat 3 to 4 minutes or until browned, breaking up beef with side of spoon. Stir in tomato sauce and onion; heat to boiling.
4. Drain ravioli; return to saucepot. Add meat sauce to ravioli in saucepot and stir until combined.
5. In prepared baking dish, arrange half of zucchini; top with half of ravioli, then half of mozzarella and half of Parmesan. Repeat layering all ingredients. Bake 20 minutes or until hot in the center and golden and bubbly on top.

Reviews

[Michelle_My_Belle]

I chopped yellow and green squash into rounds and layered them, raw (rue the day I serve overly mushy squash), with cheese, sauce, and ravioli - skipping the beef, baked 30 minutes then served with garlic breadsticks and a salad for an easy weeknight meal.

 

[Starrynews]

Delicious and easy! I cut the zucchini the short way so they would be the same size as the ravioli (made for really easy serving later!). I didn't want the zucchini to get too cooked down, so I sauteed them with the onions. I omitted the beef (don't eat it) and Parmesan, used homemade tomato sauce and shredded asiago cheese (it was on hand), and used mozzarella & spinach ravioli. It was wonderful! Thank you for a keeper!

 

[loof751]

I loved this easy-to-make dish! Zucchini and pasta sauce are a great match and go well with the ravioli and meat. I lightly sauted my zucchini slices instead of boiling them, otherwise made as specified. Thanks for posting this yummy recipe!

 

[JenniferK2]

This was good and vey easy. I made it exactly as posted but next time I think I will cut the zucchini smaller and mix it in rather than layer it. My DH would have preferred if I left the zucchini out altogether, so maybe this will blend it in more. I also think I will make it with my own spaghetti sauce next time with meat balls instead of jarred sauce with meat mixed in (but that is because I am a spaghetti sauce snob, lol). All in all, a good dish!

 

[The Amaze-Ing Me]

I'd never thought of making a ravioli lasagna/bake before this recipe. Thanks for that idea. I thought the whole thing was a bit bland but perhaps I could change the sauce to help that out. Pretty easy to make but next time I would not cut zucchini lengthwise but make it more a part of the dish--cutting it into disks or something.