I love lasagna but sometimes I don't have the time so this is a easy substitute! Hope you enjoy it😊

I was going to make stuffed shells, but I wasn’t looking forward to stuffing all the individual pasta shells. So I decided to use lasagna noodles and made little roll-ups to look like small manicotti! This approach was quicker, AND it allowed me to easily distribute my filling equally between all the “manicotti.” Hooray for the lazy approach! 😁

My kid even eats them! Spinach and all!!

So easy to make! Economical, satisfying and versatile!

#throughglass

I like to make the tomato meat sauce in the morning so that the sauces settle down nicely.

First time I made this and I used my own spices. Turned out yummy.

My eyes lit up when I found this pasta machine in the store one day. Then I started thinking about making ravioli. I kept my eyes open for a ravioli cutter, but couldn’t find one. I found a “Ravioli Plate”. I want to stress that this is one of those items that you’ve got to spend the money on. I found that out after the fact. I was able to make reasonable looking ravioli, but I was left with a lot of extra filling. I ended up putting the leftover filling into the sauce. I feel like the ravioli cutter would be better because then you’re not bound by the size of the cavity in the plate. I was very upset that I couldn’t make larger, more packed ones. Nonetheless, I carried on. Live and learn. Fair warning: it’s kind of a pain in the behind to make this... but you’ll have the everlasting privilege of being able to say you made homemade ravioli.

I’ve made this a few times for my family and they seem to love it so I thought I’d share :) This recipe is vegetarian but you can also sauté some Italian sausage, etc. into the sauce!I recommend using fire roasted tomato if using canned tomatoes. You can also use your own pre-made sauce (you’ll need about 2 cups).I also thought fresh mozzarella/Buffalo mozzarella tasted much better than regular shredded mozzarella so I recommend that in the ingredient list.

Growing up, I loved when Moma would buy a large can of ravioli. I asked her why she didn’t make it from scratch cuz she made everything else she cooked. Her reply, “I don’t do pasta” 😳 she didn’t cook anything she didn’t like. She hated pasta of any kind!So, she bought premade stuff that my Daddy and I liked. Now, I found a shortcut to “homemade” ravioli.

Cook sauce in bulk and store in case of lazy weekends.

I love to use rigatoni with meat sauce because it picks up the sauce so well! Also, I like to change my sauce ingredients depending on what I have around at the time, and what I'm in the mood for, as far as vegetables & toppings go. One thing I almost always add to my sauce is the brown sugar. The kids and I both enjoy the sweetness in the sauce. You can make this into a cheesy sauce by adding parmesan and/or other cheeses and even cream. You can make this into a savory & spicy sauce by adding crushed red pepper and/or other hot peppers. You can add vegetables to the sauce to make a "garden medley." And, you can even make this with vegan meat! Of course sauce will always get better the longer it simmers with the ingredients. This is made quick for dinner. However, if your heart is truly in making the sauce you can continue to simmer it for a few hours or even slow cook it in a crockpot. #pasta #pastasauce #meatsauce #spaghettisauce #pastanight #italiannight