It’s National Pasta Day!

Here’s a 4-ingredient recipe that takes no time to prepare, so you can get on with the festivities! (You are celebrating, aren’t you?!)

Seriously, when you get slammed with everything life throws at you, it’s nice to be able to whip up a delicious hot dinner like this Easy Ravioli Bake. I used frozen ravioli, but you can use fresh ravioli from the supermarket’s refrigerator case. A jar of pasta sauce, some mozz and Parm and you’ve got a one- dish wonder.

If you don’t get around to making this Easy Ravioli Bake for National Pasta Day, save it for next week’s Meatless Monday!

       Print this recipe.    

 

Easy Ravioli Bake

prep: 10 minutes
bake: 20 minutes

serves 4

you’ll need…
2 cups pasta sauce
1 12-ounce package frozen or fresh ravioli
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (or your favorite cheese)
¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

let’s get to it…

HEAT oven to 375°F. Spray a 1-quart casserole with non-stick spray.

POUR ½ cup sauce into the casserole; top with half of the ravioli and half of the shredded mozzarella. Pour ½ cup sauce on ravioli and top with the rest of the ravioli and mozzarella. Pour remaining 1-cup sauce on ravioli and top with Parmesan cheese.

BAKE 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly and heated through.

cooking know-how: Add cooked and drained spinach or chopped red and green bell peppers for added flavor!

September is No Kid Hungry Month and, believe it or not, you have the opportunity to help fight hunger with your fork.

The average person will eat 90 meals in the month of September… we’re talking breakfast, lunch and dinner. That means you have 90 opportunities (well, since it’s September 3, a few less now) to dine out and make a difference for the 1 in 5 kids struggling with hunger in your community and mine.

This month, thousands of restaurants around the country are donating a portion of your meal tab to help kids get breakfast before school, after school meals and food in the summer. The money will also be used to teach kids the benefits of healthy eating and cooking.  To find a restaurant near you, click here.

If there are no participating restaurants in your area, you can still make a tax-deductible donation to No Kid Hungry… just click here. Did you know that $1 can provide a child with as many as 10 meals?

I believe every child deserves three meals a day… every day. How about you?

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Margaret Mead

There’s a small non-profit organization in Chicago that is making a big difference in the lives of many who live in areas where grocery stores are non-existent or are overrun by fast food restaurants… it’s called Top Box Foods.

Top Box Foods primarily helps families who live in low-income neighborhoods buy nutritious meat, fresh fruits and vegetables at much lower prices than what’s offered in grocery stores. This isn’t charity, but a way to get high-quality food to where it is needed the most.

This is how it works: Top Box buys food from distributors and local suppliers and boxes it in several different ways (for example, the Garden Box is loaded with 10 pounds of fresh vegetables and fruit). Then once, a month, the boxes are delivered to participating churches and other groups where they can be purchased. The boxes cost anywhere from $19 to $39 (and Top Box also accepts SNAP cards). Click here to see an average delivery day.

Could you live on $4 a day? That’s the amount food stamp recipients must live on, and there are more than 50 million people in this country who require food stamps to survive. Top Box Foods is directly addressing the issue of hunger and food deserts by offering access to foods many of us take for granted.

Top Box Foods isn’t really trying to change the whole world… just that part of it that goes to bed every night hungry  in America. That’s enough for now, isn’t it?

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