SUPER CHEESY BAKED RAVIOLI

Ingredients

1 pound ravioli
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 (26 ounce) jar prepared spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon oregano
3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.  Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is tender.  Add ground beef, salt, pepper, rosemary and red pepper flakes and cook until ground beef is no longer pink.  Stir in spaghetti sauce and keep warm over low heat.  Meanwhile, cook ravioli according to package directions until just tender; drain.  In a medium bowl, stir together sour cream, ricotta cheese, basil and oregano until well blended.  Layer 1/2 of the ravioli in the prepared dish.  Top with half of the meat and sauce mixture, all of the sour cream/ricotta mixture and half of the mozzarella.  Repeat with the remainder of the ravioli, meat and sauce mixture and remaining mozzarella.  Top with 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese.  Bake, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted.

Let's Dish
My kids would eat ravioli with plain old marinara sauce every day if they could.  But sometimes I feel the need to dress it up a bit.  This recipe is reminiscent of lasagna, but without all the work.  It can be easily adapted to suit your tastes, or what you have in the refrigerator.  You could use Italian sausage in place of the ground beef, cottage cheese in place of the ricotta, or even add some vegetables to the mix.  You could even use an unfilled pasta in place of the ravioli.  Be sure not to overcook the pasta on the stovetop, as it will finish cooking in the oven.  We can never eat the whole pan in one sitting, but it freezes well, so I like to divide the recipe between two 9-inch square pans and freeze one for another day. 

Who Dished It Up First
This is an original recipe, although probably not an original idea.