As much as I love cooking there are some nights I just don’t want to think about dinner. I start thinking where do I want to get dinner from? What am I in the mood for? The other night I had that happen and thought about ravioli. I REALLY wanted baked ravioli and decided not to order anything and just go get the stuff and do it myself. Baked ravioli is fairly easy to put together and has the taste of lasagna without all the work. I have made a creamy marinara sauce and thought that would be nice to use for this dish. Boy was I right, it turned out fantastic. Served with a nice salad and some garlic bread and you have a great dinner.

Baked Ravioli

• 2 large packages of frozen cheese ravioli
• 2 jars of your favorite marinara sauce
• 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
• 2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
• grated Parmesan cheese, about 1 cup

1. Preheat oven to 350. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the ravioli till they are almost done, about 6 minutes, and drain, saving 1/2 cup of pasta water.
2. While the ravioli is cooking, heat up the marinara sauce in a large skillet. When the sauce is heated through, add the ricotta cheese and stir till it’s all combined. Add the reserved pasta water. Take off heat and add the basil.
3. In a 13 x 9 baking dish or a lasagna pan, place several spoonfuls of the marinara sauce on the bottom. Start layering the ravioli and once you have one layer spoon enough sauce to just cover the pasta. Sprinkle a little bit of the Parmesan cheese and about 1/4-1/2 cup of the Mozzarella. Continue with the next layer of ravioli, sauce and cheese. Keep doing that process till you end with the sauce. Top it with as much cheese as you want on top and bake for 30-40 minutes.