Ranch Ravioli

With this new blog means I must no longer talk the talk but actually walk the walk so to say. So tonight for dinner I tried a new recipe: Ranch Ravioli.

It was AMAZING!

I had originally found the recipe on Hidden Valley Ranch’s website . I followed it for the most part but did add my own little twist to it. After work I went to the grocery store to pick up the following to start this adventure:

• frozen ravioli
• Ranch dressing
• can of mushrooms
• mozzarella cheese

I had the red pepper already at home. This recipe calls for red and yellow pepper. This time I only used red pepper.  I filled the pot up with water and set turned on the stove to get it to start boiling. While waiting I opened the can of mushrooms and drained the water. I then went on to cut the red pepper. I cut the red pepper into long strips like the recipe calls for. Once done cutting in long strips I cut those strips in half. I used about 75% of the red pepper. Next time I would recommend using it all, it gives good flavor and a nice crunch to the pasta. Instead of a yellow pepper I substituted mushrooms in place. This recipe is very basic  so you can mix it up. Next time I will probably use both peppers and mushrooms.  While waiting for the ravioli to finish cooking I prepared the pepper and mushroom mix in the saute pan:

Once the ravioli was done I drained them then added them to the mixture of pepper and mushroom. I added about a cup and a half of ranch to the pan. I turned the oven to medium and began to stir the mixture making sure everything was coated in ranch. The amount of ranch I used was a good amount to lightly  coat everything but not drench it in ranch. It can vary to your taste bud’s.  Once everything was stirred together I added about a handful of mozzarella cheese to the mix. I mixed it in to have it melt with the ravioli’s. Once the mixture bubbled up once I turned off the stove.

When serving it I added a bit more mozzarella cheese to the top for extra flavor. It would be fine with out it The recipe calls for either meat or cheese ravioli. This time I used cheese ravioli but I believe meat ravioli would be just at good. Also I don’t believe this is just limited to ravioli. We have tortellini at home that I think would work just as well. Any small type of stuff pasta would be sufficient for this. As well you don’t need to use peppers. Perhaps brocoli is more your style? I think that would be an excellent mix with possibly some mushrooms. This is a very versatile recipe that can have many different takes on it and doesn’t take long to make or cost much at either. My total at the grocery store was $11.00 and that was with a pop as well. Frugal, easy and good this dinner was!