This is a sponsored review from BlogHer and Ragú.
When I was but a blushing young newlywed, I made my own spaghetti sauce. Now I certainly don’t mean that I grew my own tomatoes and herbs and spent endless hours planting and tending and harvesting my garden so that I could serve my husband the freshest possible tomato sauce, because the fact of the matter is that I’ve never really grown anything successfully. Except for maybe weeds. But those don’t really count, now do they?
I loved going to the grocery store, picking out all my favorite ingredients, then combining tomatoes, garlic, onion, basil and oregano in a big ole pot and letting the heat work its magic. My next door neighbor, Ann, taught me to grate a little carrot in my sauce to add a little sweetness. And don’t tell anybody, but I added a little sugar, too. The sauce could be time-consuming, but it was good. And I figured I’d make my own sauce forever.
After I became a mama, however, I started looking for shortcuts in the kitchen. Making my own spaghetti sauce wasn’t really high on the list anymore, and I’ll never forget the first time I made a spinach and spaghetti casserole with the sauce from a jar. IT WAS A REVELATION. It was simple and delicious and fast, and if you’ve ever tried to cook a meal while keeping one eye on a toddler, you know that fast cooking can be your friend. I was hooked.
A few weeks ago some folks from Ragu asked if they could send me some samples of their new spaghetti sauce. Since we eat spaghetti sauce in one dish or another at least once a week, I happily agreed. Truth be told, I’ve only bought Ragu a handful of times – we have typically preferred Another Brand – but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try, especially when I saw that the new recipe has two servings of vegetables in every half cup. If you’re someone who tries to make sure your little ones eat nutritious meals, you know that those two veggie servings per half cup are SOLID GOLD.
A couple of nights ago I decided to make lasagna with the Ragu sauce. I actually opened a jar of the old recipe and a jar of the new recipe so that I could compare the taste – and do you know what? I really could tell a difference. Since there are twice as many vegetables in the new recipe, the sauce is thicker, and the flavor is great. GREAT.
After the taste test, I assembled all the ingredients on the kitchen counter so that I could take their picture. And also so that I could remember how I made the dish because I wasn’t following a recipe. I’m all cuckoo and devil-may-care that way.
Don’t they look cute?
I browned my ground beef, cooked my noodles (our grocery store was out of the whole wheat lasagna noodles, so I improvised with whole wheat rigatoni) and mixed together the ricotta and cottage cheeses. Then I started layering. And here’s how it looked before I cooked it.
But do you know what’s even better? How it looked right before we ate it.
It was DELICIOUS – a huge hit with the whole family. Our seven year-old practically licked his plate, and it made me feel good that the sauce was chock-full of vegetables. I mixed cottage cheese in with the ricotta and he had no idea (he would not touch cottage cheese under normal circumstances), and I loved that our one dish hit four of the five food groups: dairy, veggies, protein and whole grains. OH, HAPPY DAY.
Here’s the recipe:
Riga-sagna
2 lbs. ground chuck, browned and drained (seasoned to taste)
1 jar Ragu
1 lb. whole wheat rigatoni, cooked
16 oz. whole milk ricotta cheese
16 oz. cottage cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup mozzarella cheese, freshly gratedPreheat oven to 375. Combine cooked ground beef with Ragu sauce and let simmer on stove while cooking and assembling other ingredients.
Boil and drain pasta. Set aside.
Combine ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, basil, oregano and eggs – then set aside.
In a 9×13 baking dish, lightly coat the bottom of the dish with sauce. Put a layer of noodles on top, then ricotta mixture, then sauce, then noodles, then ricotta mixture, then sauce. Sprinkle mozzarella over top, then bake for 45 minutes to an hour.
You may have a few noodles left over if you cook the whole box – just FYI.
If you’d like to enter to win a $100 Visa gift card courtesy of BlogHer, leave a comment that answers the following question: what’s your favorite way to use spaghetti sauce when you cook for your family? Old fashioned spaghetti and meatballs? Chicken parmesan? Lasagna? A great family recipe?
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By the way, if you’d like to be one of the first to sample the new Ragu recipe, check out the Ragu Facebook page. They’re giving away some tremendous goodie baskets filled with Ragu sauce, pasta, a colander, a box grater, cookware and all sorts of kitchen gadgets via the Ragu Facebook Sweepstakes.
Happy Ragu-ing, y’all!
This giveaway is now closed.
We love spaghetti with Italian sausage.
http://twitter.com/susan1215/status/26606382942
I like it just plain over pasta with my daughter. We’re not huge meat eaters, so when my husband is off working and it’s just the two of us, it makes a great dinner. I also like a dollop on top of a slice of oven-fried eggplant.
My family really loves all things pasta!
So I buy lotsa sauce-a!!
Our favorite meal would be lasagna!
Your dish looked amazing! :)
Definitely when making lasagna! :P
My daughter loves spaghetti with sauce and mushrooms.
Just spaghetti and sauce for me! although I do love to make homemade calzones sometimes and use sauce for dipping.
I love to use spaghetti sauce to make lasagna.
Thanks,
Karen
I love making a tomato cream sauce. Penne pasta with Italian sausage and then cover it with the sauce. So easy, but it tastes like you slaved over the stove for hours.
spaghetti – ground meat and noodle. simle , quick .
We like spaghetti sauce over any kind of pasta.
Just good old-fashioned pasta and sauce with some grated parmesan. I’m thinking about trying out the new hit “spaghetti tacos” as popularized on iCarly – I’m sure my daughter would get a kick out of it.
we have a great family recipe that has been passed down for generations. I can’t wait to teach my kids to cook it too!
When hubby is cooking, bring on the chicken parm. When I’m cooking, it’s typically angel hair with meat sauce!
bleatham*at*gmail.com
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We here don’t have a favorite way of eating the sauce, we just eat pasta with sauce one way or another about every night! LOVE it!
gmissycat@yahoo.com
Tweeted giveaway here!
http://twitter.com/gmissycat/status/26836239638
gmissycat@yahoo.com
Ragu spaghetti sauce with browned ground beef over spaghetti squash “noodles”
We have spaghetti and meatballs more often, but my family’s favorite use of spahetti sauce is in chicken parmesan.
Shells stuffed with sausage/ricotta/mozzarella and covered with sauce. YUM!
I am always looking for healthy options to recipes we enjoy at restaurants. I love Ragu because the fat grams are quite low and it still tastes fantastic! I like to make spaghetti, baked chicken with spaghetti sauce over pasta, and zucchini parmesean with fresh zucchini from our garden! YUM!
I like to use ragu when i make homemade pizza for the sauce it is excellant.
Spaghetti, which we have once a week!
We make a lot of spaghetti and turkey meatballs! I have celiac’s so it’s also gluten-free noodles! :)
Spaghetti and meatballs is my favorite!
Honestly–I can’t wait to try the new Ragu because the old one was such a hit in our house. It’s the only one our little guys like, so I use it on spaghetti and meatballs or meatloaf (whatever works!).
I make pasta a lot of different ways, but red sauce is almost always reserved for good old spaghetti noodles :)
I know it’s boring but I truly love spaghetti and meat sauce with some French bread.
http://twitter.com/#!/fostertam/status/26879247797
Baked ziti without meat, as I cook for two vegetarian daughters!
I love to make pizza bagels!
Spaghetti pie with a little turkey kielbasa cut up in the sauce! Yummo!
i make a huge pot of homemade spaghetti sauce about once every 2 months and freeze it in dinner size containers. We are in a lasagna roll kick right not in my family, I just lay my ricotta mixture on each lasagna noodle and than add moz and jack cheese, roll up, place in a dish and cover and surround with sauce. i than spoon over a spoonful of a white sauce add a bit more cheese and bake.
Just plain spaghetti with cooked beef. We had it tonight actually.
Old fashioned … just open the jar and pour it on our spaghetti. Delish.
I make my husbands favorite- meatballs and spaghetti.
Please don’t disqualify me because I really can not choose a favorite. I love my lasagna – it is amazing! I also enjoy our vermicelli, too. It’s a tie.
I love making just plain ole spaghetti. ;) Lately, though, I’ve been using jarred sauces to make mini pizzas on english muffins with turkey pepperoni. YUM!
I have a wonderful recipe for lasagna that is quick and easy and lives up to it’s name Lazy Lasagna.
We like spaghetti with meatballs, and Pioneer Woman’s bread–the one with a whole stick of butter!
deli sandwiches!
http://twitter.com/#!/DesMoinesDealin/status/26904907149
My favorite way to use spaghetti sauce is with an easy family recipe involving Rotini pasta, ground beef, spices, moz. cheese, and pepperoni. YUM!
While it is unspoken “law” that we only make mom’s traditional homemade sauce for pasta, I keep jars of prepared sauce for eggplant parmesan, pizza, and meatball sandwiches. Please, please, don’t tell my mom!
we make tortizzas. pizza on a tortilla. :)
I love to use spaghetti sauce for pizzas at my house! Chicken parmesan is also another fave.
We love Lasagna. But I also like to make Chicken Cacciatore.
Mel4Him777{at}gmail{dot}com
Tweet
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Mel4Him777{at}gmail{dot}com
Baked Ziti – love it!
Any combination of the sauce, turkey italian sausage, whole wheat pasta, and gooey cheese. I also use leftover sauce and meatballs on hoagie rolls, again covered in cheese and baked to bubbly perfection.
Homemade Pizza is one of my good ol standbys so I almost always have a jar of sauce in the fridge (that stuff will keep forever!) For something even easier, you can make a quicky pizza out of tortilla shells, sauce, pepperoni and cheese.
I like to use spaghetti sauce for plain old spaghetti. I doctor it up a little and of course I add garlic bread.
Usually, penne + red sauce + a fresh tomato diced up into the sauce + grated parmesan + fresh herbs as available. Pretty simple but so good. The trick is to cook the pasta just short of al dente, then dump it into the heated sauce for a minute or two so it absorbs the goodness.
When I need a quick and easy dinner, it’s pasta and meatballs and yes, I do use Ragu sauce.
For a Sunday evening family dinner, I’ll make my son’s favorite, lasagna and again, yes I use Ragu sauce.
I’ll definitely be trying the new sauce – anything to get my kids (and me) to eat more veggies.
I use it for spaghetti and then add other ingredients to it and let it simmer. We also use it for dipping our garlic bread as well.
I use it to make my favorite spinach lasagna.
Two ways:
For fast weekday meal: Good old spaghetti
For favorite family feast: Lasagna!
I LOVE SAUCE ON SPAGHETTI, STUFFED SHELLS AND CHEESE, ANY KIND OF NOODLES AND EVEN ON HOT DOGS! kytah00@yahoo.com
TWEETED ALSO! http://twitter.com/#!/kytah00/status/27025666856 kytah00@yahoo.com
I like to make Chili mac, or Pasta with meat sauce!
lasagna!
I don’t have the recipe near me, but found one I just love (maybe from Cooking Light?) that’s noodles layered with a cream cheese/ricotta blend and mushrooms. Yummy!
Our family Love Ragu, my fav. is the Mama’s Special Garden Yummy veggies added in the sauce.
sweokgrl@gmail.com
I tweeted
sweokgrl@gmail.com
http://twitter.com/bdiane34/status/27076342595
We are a manicotti family….we could eat it every day of the week! Just stuff some manicotti shells with a ricotta/spinach mixture, put down some sauce on the bottom of your pan, then your shells, then more sauce, cover with foil and bake!
elderberry44 AT yahoo.com
i just like spaghetti with meat sauce
Spaghetti with lots of sauce.
I love baked ziti or spaghetti.
I’m like you, use spaghetti sauce at least once a week… my favorite go-to very quick dinner is to make Baked Ravioli using frozen ravioli and jarred sauce… tastes homemade!
Baked Ziti!
It is more of a snack than a meal…but it is pretty good that you might want to eat if for a whole meal! I spoon some pasta sauce onto a sliced bagel and top it with some cheese.You can also add some veggies or your favorite toppings. Then stick it in the oven for a few minutes. It’s kinda like a “bagel bite” minus the cheese.
I use a couple jars of spaghetti sauce in my homemade chili – enhances flavor and texture.
Stuffed pasta shells with tomato sauce are my new favorite!
We use the spaghetti sauce more often as a dipping sauce for a frozen pizza or cheese sticks. Otherwise it is just over the top of cooked noodles of any kind.
spaghetti and meatballs
Pretty simple here – spaghetti, sauce, add a little fresh chopped tomato and an extra pinch of Italian Seasoning, Also add some browned hamburger or grilled chicken if I have any.
We like Spaghetti with meat sauce. We also use it for homemade pizza
Chicken lasagna is our favorite.
tweeted: http://twitter.com/KerryBishop/status/27594006600
We love to make meatball hoagies, chicken or fried zuchini parmisanna, or something we call King’s Pasta Bake….it’s all different kinds of different shaped pasta, meat and sausage, Ragu sauce and a big slice of mozarella melted underneath it all. More on top and then baked in a hot oven. Really, really good! I also use it for dipping sauces for bread sticks with salad!
My favorite way to use Ragu’ pasta sauce is by pouring it over sliced zucchini (that’s been cooked just enough to drain off excess liquid), then covering it with cheese (either Mozzarella or a Parmesan/Romano mix is good). Then, I bake it just until the cheese melts. Everyone loves this except my 12yo son–who would prefer to have his spaghetti sauce on spaghetti!
Thanks for the giveaway.
aleq13@gmail.com
Tweet! http://twitter.com/#!/lexiquin/status/27657667194
My husband makes a wonderful lasagna and we always use Ragu Parmesan & Romano sauce. Yum!
Tweet!
http://twitter.com/#!/simplyandreah/status/27657891505
Manicotti! We love spinach and cheese manicotti!
We make chunky spagetti: spagetti with sauce of course, but then we add a bunch of stuff like mushrooms, broccoli, grated carrot, cauliflower, etc… depends what veggies we have at the moment.
I homeschool and sometimes (always?) need a fast lunch. Boil a lb of pasta, stir in a jar of Ragu, 1/2 lb of peas, and whatever cheese I find in the fridge. Stir, stir, lunch!
Dip for garlic bread sticks! Yum!
My family likes Chicken Parmisan with Angel Hair pasta. But the other week Ragu was on sale at our grocer. I too typically have used the OTHER brand, but I thought I would try. I got their extra chunky garden style or something similar. It was SO good. I will probably buy that sauce every time.
Spaghetti with meat sauce is a favorite around here!
Oh goodness, since I’m certainly not too adventurous in the kitchen – I’ll have to be lame and admit that my spaghetti sauce usage is limited to plain old spaghetti and meatballs and the occasional chicken parmesan. However, I’ve printed the recipe for the riga-maru above – and I’m definitely going to try it.
Love to use spaghetti sauce for spaghetti sauce spicing it up with more spices and meat. Or just warming up the sauce with noodles. Delicious!
Chicken parmesan is my favorite, but anything with spaghetti sauce is good in my book!
Our favorite way to enjoy spaghetti sauce is over some cheese tortellini :) It seems like such a special meal but it’s so easy to make!
http://twitter.com/MClardy11
I use it just for regular old spaghetti. :-)
The favorite is Baked Spaghetti which is made with a sauce that uses Ragu! ! ! it is delicious! ! !
Definitely lasagna!
Lasagna and baked ziti.
When cooking vegetables…it makes them taste so much better. Sauteed eggplant, zucchini, squash, etc. all drenched is spaghetti sauce and a little parmesan cheese = delicioso