Creamy Spinach and Ravioli 

This simple recipe was a BIG HIT with my 8 year old son! My 5 year old daughter loved it too, only without the spinach.

This recipe is very close to the Creamy Penne Pasta and Chicken dinner, except I was completely out of garlic and chicken broth. I improvised with yellow onion and vegetable broth cubes. As for the spinach, I quickly cooked it up with thinly sliced onions while I waited for the pasta water to boil. I had the creamy sauce finished before the pasta was tender. When I prep all my ingredients before cooking (give or take 15 minutes), this meal is cooked in 10 minutes. That's including the heat-n-eat garlic bread on the side.

THIS IS ALL IT TAKES

• 1 (10 oz.) bag of frozen spinach, thawed
• 1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons oil
• salt & pepper
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 1 vegetable broth cube
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup lite sour cream
• 1 family size package of fresh, ready to cook, four cheese ravioli
• 1 loaf of frozen heat and eat garlic bread
• shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven according to directions on garlic bread package.

Prep the garlic bread loaf on the cookie sheet. Prep spinach and onions, measure out the butter, flour, water and sour cream. Mince up the broth cube so it will dissolve better. Fill a large pot with hot water for cooking the pasta and set on high heat. Use a medium sauce pan for making the cream sauce and a small fry pan to saute the onions and spinach.

Start by adding 3 tablespoons of oil to the fry pan and heating it over medium to medium high heat. Add all BUT a 1/4 cup of onions and cook until softened. Add spinach, stir together and cook until heated through. Cover with a lid and remove from heat.

Next comes the cream sauce. Is the pasta water boiling yet? Yes? Good. Add the ravioli to the boiling water and pop the garlic loaf in the oven and set timer for 9 minutes. Lower the heat to medium on the pasta, and give the raviolis a gentle stir occasionally to keep them from sticking together.

Fully melt the butter in the saucepan over medium heat. Add the 1/ 4 cup sliced onions and cook until softened. Add the flour. Stirring continuously, cook the flour up to two minutes. Stir in the minced broth cube and 2 cups of water, until sauce is smooth and thickens a bit, 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat, gently whisk in sour cream until fully melted. Remove saucepan completely from electric burner.

If everyone in your family loves spinach then add it to the cream sauce now. Otherwise, when the ravioli is cooked and drained, pour the cream sauce over the pasta and allow to set. The sauce will thicken up and stick to the pasta...yummm. Top with shredded Parmesan cheese.

Oh and don't forget about the garlic bread in the oven!