Ravioli Lasagna

Do you ever has those days when dinner time sneaks up on you and you're just not ready?  I've had a lot of those days lately!

When that happens, a quick and easy meal is always in order.  Spinach & Pesto Ravioli Lasagna was our go-to recipe last night.

This is my adaptation of a recipe found on myrecipes.com.

Photo: Southern Living

Ingredient List

1 (16 oz) package frozen chopped or cut leaf spinach

3/4 cup basil pesto

2 (15oz) jars Alfredo sauce

1/2 cup chicken broth

2 (25 oz) packages frozen cheese ravioli

2 cups shredded Italian cheese blend

Preheat the oven to 375F.  Combine frozen spinach and pesto in a medium bowl.

Combine Alfredo sauce and chicken broth.  Spoon 1/3 of the Alfredo sauce mix (about 1 cup) into the bottom of a lightly greased casserole.  I use a large 4 Liter Corningware roaster.  Top with half of the spinach and pesto mixture.  Spread one bag of the frozen ravioli over the spinach mixture.  Repeat layers once.  Top with the remaining Alfredo sauce.

Bake, uncovered, at 375F for about 45 minutes.  Remove from the oven and sprinkle with shredded cheese.  Bake another 5 to 10 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

You don't have to thaw the spinach or the ravioli before baking but make sure the center of the lasagna is hot before serving.  Try sliding a knife down the middle of the dish and pull it back out.  If the knife is not hot, the dish is still cold in the middle.  If that's the case pop it back in the oven for a little longer.  Cover if it begins to get too brown.

Add a salad and some garlic bread and dinner is on!  You can easily cut this recipe in half and still have delicious results.

BBQ Spice Rub

My youngest son is all about food!  I think he inherited this from me.  We wake up thinking about food and before we're finished eating breakfast, we're thinking about what's for lunch!  When he was only about three, he asked me if I would teach him how to make goulash when he grew up...already thinking about what he's going to eat when he goes off to college!

Well, he and I were discussing what we would eat on Christmas day and he suggested ribs.  Yummy!  My husband and I split duties when it comes to smoking meats.  I'm in charge of perfecting the "prep" and he's in charge of the smoke.

In my pursuit to find the perfect rub, this is what I ended up with.  This rub is so delicious, in fact, that I have quit using barbecue sauce all together (however, that is my next endeavor - homemade barbecue sauce)!  I found this recipe online but it's been a few years and I can't remember who it came from...sorry.

BBQ Rub

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup paprika

2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cayenne

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

And that's it!  It really is fantastic!  So much better than anything you can buy in the store.  It will work on all kinds of meat, too.

And this would make a nice gift for the Grill Master in your life, also.  Be sure to include the recipe because once it's gone, they're gonna want some more!

Christmas Gift Ideas from I Heart Naptime and Under The Table and Dreaming

While making my rounds on my favorite blogs I've come across some really fantastic gift ideas.  My list of "Things to Copy" is long but here are a couple that I've done over the last few of days.

Thinking of all the people on my gift list this year, I decided to start with these clever "presents".  The idea came from Jamielyn at I Heart Naptime.  She made some for Fall/Thanksgiving and some for Christmas.  They are irresistibly cute!  I decided to make these for my volunteer teachers at church on Wednesday night.  I needed 10 gifts that were gender neutral, had no food allergens and were inexpensive.  These Christmas blocks were exactly what I was looking for!

I just used some old 4x4 scraps that we had leftover from a fence building project, some paint leftover from painting our shed, some vinyl I already had and some ribbon I had scraped from other projects.  As you can see, the price was right!  And I was very pleased with the results!

I loved them so much, I went out and bought another 4x4 to make some more (some for gifts, some for me!)!

To find out how to make your own, all you have to do is head over to I Heart Naptime!  But before you go, check out this other fantastic gift!

My second list of people to gift were my boys' teachers.  I could go all feminine here!  Something I would love to have.  We'll, I totally found the answer from Stephanie Lynn at Under The Table and Dreaming!  Her Pumpkin Spice Sugar Scrub is exactly what I was looking for!  The Pumpkin Spice fragrance is good for the winter time and she also has recipes for a couple of other fragrances!

 I decided to dress my jars up with some homemade "cinnamon men" (instead of gingerbread men) made with some cinnamon dough.  There are a ton of recipes on the web for this.

All you have to do is visit Under The Table and Dreaming to get the recipe!  Stephanie Lynn also offers printable labels to go with her amazing scrub!  How sweet is that?  Be sure to keep some for yourself (I sure did)!

(Now, if your one of the boys' teachers, please act surprised when you get this!)

Be sure to check out both of these wonderful women's blogs.  They are loaded with great ideas!  Then you will see why my list of "Things to Copy" gets longer every time I log onto the internet!