Cheese Spinach Ravioli

Cheese Spinach Ravioli

The following email was sent to me as a viewer challenge.  


"Samantha,
I have a cooking challenge for you.  As a lover of Ravioli I am wondering if you can make a healthier cheese ravioli that also tastes good.  I hope this does not require you to make your own pasta, but perhaps you could figure out some creative way around that too?  I look forward to seeing what you come up with."

I tried, viewer, to make homemade ravioli, but it was a disaster.  Just so you know, I will not give up and I'm going to try to conquer it in the next few months.  Since I wasn't able to get the ravioli working in time for this post, I had to switch to lasagna noodles kind of last minute.  Even though I was extremely disappointed, I think it turned out alright. 

8 oz lasagna noodles

 Filling

• 1 1/2 C low-fat ricotta cheese
• 3/4 c shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 c frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1/4 c. chopped onions
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• dash of salt and pepper

Alfredo Sauce:

• 2 C fat free milk
• 1 C chicken broth
• 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder

Preheat oven to 350°F. Boil water for lasagna noodles. Cook until noodles are tender and drain.

In a small nonstick skillet, saute the chopped onions and chopped spinach.  A lot of flavors come out, that I really like, when sauteing the two.

Combine all the filling ingredients into a food processor (oh, how I love my food processor!) including the spinach and onion mixture. Process the ingredients until well blended. To start the ravioli process, you will need a sharp knife to cut through the pasta. On one sheet of lasagna, place one tablespoon of mixture per ravioli. You can fit three tablespoons of mixture on one sheet of lasagna. Next, place a new sheet of lasagna on top of your completed one. Cut into three squares. Continue process until mixture is done. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.

For the sauce, combine all ingredients in a saucepan and cook on medium heat. Whisk until the sauce thickens.

Lastly, take the ravioli out of oven and drizzle the Alfredo sauce on top. To add more flavor, I sprinkled reduced fat feta cheese--Brandon's favorite.

Here's his review: