Meal Train Manicotti

This week I got to visit my friend and her recovering husband again in the big city.  I was scheduled for my final meal train to them and was excited to cook for their family and see her beautiful, smiling face again...not to mention their Golden Retriever puppy that I am so in love with.

Since my last visit I prepared a Fiesta Dinner for them, this time I thought I would take the Italian approach.

Dinner

Caesar Salad

Tuscan Garlic Bread

Sausage and Cheese Manicotti

Brownie Desserts (which I had to confess I didn't actually bake these)

Breakfast

Fresh Fruits

Ham and Hash Brown Breakfast Casserole

This Manicotti is so incredibly easy and came to me from my friends Doug and Lois, who also gave me the Empanada recipe.  Doug taught me a trick to making these that is seriously a game changer (plus I came up with my own culinary hack)!  I have always been intimidated by manicotti and struggled with stuffing them...not any more!

Sausage and Cheese Manicotti

Courtesy of Doug and Lois

1 lb. ground Italian sausage

2 cloves minced garlic

2 cups creamed, small curd cottage cheese, pureed

24 ounces Mozzarella cheese

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup mayonnaise

28 Manicotti noodles (1 box = 28 noodles)

16 ounce jar of your favorite spaghetti or marinara sauce

1 tsp dry oregano leaves

4-6 ounces Parmesan cheese, finely shredded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown Italian sausage and garlic, drain fat.

In a large bowl, mix cottage cheese, Mozzarella cheese, salt, and mayonnaise.  Add sausage mixture and blend well.

Boil noodles according to package directions.  Drain and lay on a non-stick sprayed foil sheet to cool.

***Cut each cooked and cooled noodle in half, width-wise.

Prepare a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray.  

Hold noodle flat side down, flush with hard surface prep area.  Fill each noodle with the stuffing mixture by hand or **use a small cookie scoop. You will use about 2 Tablespoons for each noodle.

Pour about half of the spaghetti/marinara sauce in bottom of prepared baking dish, just to cover.

Place the stuffed shells in sauce.

Cover shells with remaining sauce.  Sprinkle with oregano and Parmesan cheese.

Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes.  Remove foil and bake another 15 minutes, until sauce is bubbling.

Enjoy!  Be healthy, well and stay sparkling!

In order for the most sanitized cooking area, after mopping the floor, I had to quarantine myself in the kitchen.  I pulled out our 2 largest baby gates and trapped myself in (or trapped the dogs out), however you choose to look at it.  Needless to say there was much pouting involved with the two of them and Kylo Zen thought he could mesmerize me with those brown puppy eyes.

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