We all love our comfort food. Unfortunately, many of these are not considered “healthy.” To help solve that problem, don’t make them a daily habit, choose better ingredients, and include more vegetables. This easy-to-assemble crock-pot recipe (directions for oven version of the recipe are at the end of article) for ravioli lasagna becomes healthier by using frozen vegetable-filled ravioli and adding vegetables in the layering process. Also check the label of your prepared sauce for unnecessary sugar and sodium. This version is meatless, but you could add a pound of cooked lean ground meat.
What you’ll need to serve 6–8
1½ (25-ounce) jars of prepared tomato-based pasta sauce (choose one with no added sugar or high-fructose corn syrup [HFCS] and the least amount of sodium)*
1–1½ teaspoons chili flakes (optional but will spice sauce up a bit)
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 medium carrot, shredded and patted with a paper towel to remove some of liquid
1 medium zucchini, shredded and patted with paper towel to remove some of liquid
3 large leaves Swiss chard, destemmed and shredded**
Approximately 30 ounces frozen ravioli (search for those with vegetable fillings; you may have to buy packages of refrigerated raviolis to find some vegetable options that you can freeze; I found refrigerated beet-spinach-goat cheese ravioli at my Costco.)
1 (15-ounce) container ricotta
1 (8-ounce) package shredded cheese, either Italian blend, pizza blend or mozzarella
Fresh chopped parsley for garnish (optional)
What you’ll do:
Stir the chili flakes and Italian seasoning into the prepared sauce. Mix the carrots, zucchini and Swiss chard together.
Begin layering in your crock-pot. First, cover the bottom with about ½ cup of the sauce. Place about 1/3 of the ravioli in a single layer on top of the sauce. Spread ½ of the vegetables on top of the ravioli; dollop ½ of the ricotta in small amounts on top of the vegetables, and top with about ¾ cup of the shredded cheese. Pour about 1¼ cup of sauce over the vegetables and cheeses. Repeat the layering with half of the remaining ravioli and the remaining vegetables, ricotta and ¾ cup shredded cheese. Pour another 1¼ cup of sauce over this set of layers. Finish by layering the remaining ravioli and completely covering it with the remaining 1¼ cups sauce. (There will be about ½ of a jar of sauce left for another use.) Scatter the remaining shredded cheese on top.
Cook on the high setting for about 3 hours or on the low setting for 5–6 hours. When it is done, it will be “soupy” but still edible if you can’t wait. Letting it sit for at least an hour will firm up the lasagna, making it easier to scoop or cut. Garnish each serving with chopped parsley, if using.
If you don’t have a crock-pot, you can follow the recipe with these changes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the vegetables into the sauce, along with the chili flakes and seasoning. Coat a 9×13-inch pan with cooking spray. Layer as follows: sauce to coat bottom of pan; ravioli, cheeses, sauce, ravioli, cheeses, sauce; ravioli, remaining sauce and cheese. Cover filled pan with foil, and bake for about 40 minutes. Remove foil, and continue baking for approximately 20 more minutes. Let rest for at least 15 minutes to allow it to firm up.
*I was amazed at how many pasta sauces have sugar or HFCS listed in the ingredients. I chose Silver Palate pasta sauce that uses pear concentrate (last listed ingredient) as its sweetener and was labeled “low-sodium” (only 115 mg, or 5% of recommended daily average).
**This should yield approximately 4 cups of vegetables. In lieu of this combination, you can make your own combination of 4 cups of vegetables; see below for other ideas.
Thoughts and variations:
As mentioned before, you could add some layers of cooked ground meat or even use some cut-up leftover meat. The ground meat could be sautéed with garlic and onions.
The vegetables could be a single choice or, as in this case, a mixture. Consider leftover cooked vegetables, such as broccoli. Substitute any hardy green leaf for the chard, such as spinach, kale or collard greens. Also consider mushrooms or roasted red peppers.
Dollop pureed pumpkin within the layers for an additional eye-healthy ingredient.
Chop up and sprinkle some fresh herbs, such as basil, between the layers.
For the ravioli, you can opt for either cheese- or meat-filled options. If you use the cheese ones, you may want to eliminate the ricotta.
You could substitute drained low-fat or non-fat cottage cheese for the ricotta, but it has more sodium than the ricotta.