I’ve come to terms with how much lasagna sucks.

Not the dish itself, but making it.

Last month, my boyfriend and I made dinner for his parents. We decided on lasagna and got tips from basically every member of both of our families on how to make it easier. That should have been my first clue about how frustrated I would be by the end of this experience. Instead of having a nice sit down with his parents, I fretted for hours straight thinking that I messed something up. There’s just too much with the boiling of the noodles, the cooling of the noodles, the mixing of the cheeses, the spreading, the layering, the tearing of the noodles, the panicking, the aggravation, the tension... It’s just not fun.

I was raised to believe that meal time is supposed to be about gathering together to enjoy each other’s company over really tasty food. The only enjoyment of this meal came from my boyfriend getting a kick out of how nervous I was at dinner.

Some foods are just way too hard to make and should be banned from menus across the nation.

And some foods, like lasagna, can be adapted so the enjoyment of the meal can be fully appreciated.

My mom found a recipe in one of her books a few years back that became a recurring dish in our family’s fare. It’s lasagna made with ravioli. We added our own twists and zips over the years and what we lacked in good old traditional meal preparation, we made up with a nice, relaxed Mom.

Basic Ravioli Lasagna

Equipment:

13 X 9 X 2 glass dish
Pot
Colander
Large spoon
Cooking spray or butter

Ingredients:

Two bags of precooked cheese or your choice of meat ravioli
One jar of the pasta sauce of your choice
One cup of shredded or grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the ravioli according to the directions on the bag. Drain.
Melt the butter in the bottom of the glass dish or spray it with the cooking spray.
Using the large spoon, put a layer of ravioli on the bottom of the dish. Cover the pasta with a thin layer of sauce.

Alternate layers of pasta and sauce until you reach the top of the dish, or you run out of pasta.
Use the rest of the sauce to cover the top with a thicker layer.
Bake for 20 minutes.

Add the cheese on top and bake for another five minutes or until cheese is melted.

Goes great with garlic bread.


Twists and Zips

Clean and sauté two portabella or about ten button mushrooms, onion and garlic in olive oil and add the mixture to the sauce in between layers. Use the rest as garnish on top.

Chop the top and base off a medium-sized eggplant then cut, top to bottom, about half-inch slices. Liberally apply kosher or sea salt to both sides of slices and let sit for five minutes. Wash the salt off and pat dry with a paper towel. Season with basil, pepper and salt and pan fry them in a lightly-oiled pan. Cook until tender. Layer the eggplant in between pasta, adding an extra layer of sauce.

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