I was watching a cooking show the other day, and the chef was making pizza. While talking through his preparation, he said about food, "What's more American than Italian?" Just struck me as being a very true statement. Pizza and spaghetti are mainstays in nearly every household in America. Chicken parmesan, garlic breadsticks, pasta, lasagna... the varieties are endless. I was looking for a recipe several months ago to make manicotti and stuffed shells and stumbled across this one online: Manicotti. It is amazing! Even with the green flecks of the spinach, my daughter gulps this down whether in the form of manicotti or stuffed shells. And for my small family, I am able to freeze two separate meals out of one batch of this recipe. This last time, I got 12 stuffed shells and about 10 manicotti. It's so easy and absolutely delicious!
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
15 ounces ricotta cheese
4 ounces cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup shredded Romano or Parmesan cheese
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 box (12 to 14 shells) manicotti noodles (or about 24 large shells or a combination of the two)
Jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (I love Bertolli's Tomato and Basil for this recipe)
1/2 cup shredded Romano or Parmesan cheese, for topping
Allow cream cheese to soften a bit, and be sure to get as much liquid as possible out of the spinach. Put cream cheese, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, parmesean, spinach, eggs, salt, and pepper into bowl.
If you are making stuffed shells, you have to precook the shells per the box directions. Once the shells are drained, gently spoon the filling into the shells. If you are making manicotti, these do not have to be cooked first. Take a cake decorating bag, cut the tip off, and fill the bag with filling. Gently squeeze filling into manicotti shell and fill it up.
Line your pan with foil, and stack shells or manicotti in pan. I use a casserole dish to cook mine. Since there is just two of us, I've been mixing these shells and manicotti up on the weekend when I have more time, and freezing them until I'm ready to cook. The time before last when I made these, I got about a 10 manicotti, and 12 stuffed shells out of one recipe of filling. I froze these as two separate meals. So, this last time, I separated them into two packs of nine shells, and one with 3 or 4 manicotti and a couple of stuffed shells. I line these in a shallow foil-lined pan, then wrap the foil around them and place them in a freezer bag. The night before I intend to cook them, I pull them out of the freezer and let them thaw in the fridge.
Whether you're ready to cook them the night you make them or a later night, line your dish with foil and layer your noodles into it. Cover noodles with your choice of marinara. I prefer Bertolli's Tomato and Basil myself.
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