Dinner Tonight!

Hello! Do you ever have days when you really don't feel like thinking of what to make but you need to eat and have no money for take-out? Those are the days when you should raid your pantry and find random things to make into a meal....those are the days to make bakes and casseroles! you throw some things together, shove it in the oven and wait until its ready to eat. Its sort of like take-out, except instead of paying for it with money you're paying with some effort.

Today I knew I had to make something. I have no left overs and no pre-cooked things. I've been sick all week, so I've put no effort into setting myself up for the week. I could have just made a salad, but I pulled a chicken breast from the freezer this morning, so I had to use it. I've also been craving pearl onions. I absolutely looooove them. I bought them for when my girls came to visit, but completely forgot about them since I keep them in the potato bin instead of the fridge. In addition, I had random veggies and some left over canned peas I needed to use up asap. I decided on a cheese ravioli and chicken bake with a bunch of the veggies I had...

Chicken and Cheese Ravioli Bake with Vegetables

*everything is an approximation today. The end result can feed 3 people I think.

1 Chicken breast, diced or sliced up
1 sm. bag of cheese ravioli (mine had about 12 lg. raviolis in it, but you can use minis as well)
about 20 baby carrots
1/4 a head of broccoli divided into florets
approx. 10 pearl onions
3 button mushrooms cut into bite size pieces
1/4 cup canned peas
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil for drizzling
herb mix
fresh basil leaves (about 5)slices into strips
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup Shredded mozzarella cheese
16 ounces plain or flavored tomato sauce
salt and pepper.

1. Preheat your over on 350.
2. Dice or slice your chicken breast. Just make sure the pieces are not too thick or it will take longer to bake. Throw the chicken into a mixing bowl with a tiny bit of oil, salt, pepper and herb mix, to taste. leave it on the counter.

3. In a 8x8 baking dish, place your broccoli, carrots and mushrooms, all cut to the size you want. Chop the garlic in there as well

4. in a small saucepan, boil some water to blanch the pearl onions. Blanching them for one minute in boiling water, and then shocking them in cold water helps remove the skin. Once that is done throw the onions into your bakeware.
5. Take your ravioli (best if its thawed so you can evenly layer it in your bakeware) and place it with the veggies.
6. In a mixing bowl, combine your sauce with about 1 tsp. herb mix, pepper, fresh basil and the parmesan cheese. If you're using a flavored pasta sauce, you can omit all the herbs and just add the parmesan. Mix the ingredients together.
7. Place your chicken into the bakeware and pour tomato sauce all over, mixing well to evenly coat all ingerdients. Try to even it out as well as possible.

8. Sprinkle with shredded mozarella and cover.

Bake for about 40 minutes, uncover and bake for a few more until cheese browns a little bit.

Just remember...you can use any veggies you want here, the possibilities are endless! Dig in and enjoy!