So our anniversary was pretty boring. Dan wasn't feeling well... not sure if he had a virus or ate something bad or if it was just his usual stomach upset. He sat and watched TV. Me? I scrapped a lot. I got my CT assignments done before I even took a shower so that when I had a nice chunk of scrapping time, I got to work on the Shutterfly book I'm doing of our Disney photos. I sort of think I should get it started now, while the details are still a little fresh, and hope to have it in my hands by Christmas. So far, I'm on Day 2 of the trip. Which would sound better if I didn't tell you that at this point, we haven't set foot in a park. Once we start going to parks, I expect the number of photos to be scrapped to start reaching the stratosphere. God bless Jen Caputo and thank heavens she had a birthday just as I was in the mood to start this project. Between Jen, Kay and Mary Fran, my book is going to rock. (I'm limiting to the album to stuff by those 3 ladies. I've got a theme going.)
Anyway, I wanted this blog entry to be about manicotti, and I'm talking about scrapping. Crazy. Here's the make-ahead recipe I did this week:
Super Easy Working Mom's Manicotti
8 ounces manicotti (about 14 pieces)
26 ounces spaghetti sauce (this is a jar/can of prepared sauce; if you're using homemade, it's 3 cups-ish)
1 cup water
15 ounces ricotta cheese
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
2 tbsp parsley flakes (don't really measure these; just dump some in)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper (again... do you really measure your salt and pepper in recipes? I don't.)
1 lb Italian sausage (I used ground beef. Normally, I would do a 1/2 ground beef, 1/2 Italian sausage mix, but Dan was paying attention and he would have had a hissy fit, so I just did all ground beef. Funny, but if he doesn't know it's in there, he never has a hissy about the Italian sausage. He thinks he doesn't like the taste. Oh yeah, and the original recipe says you can sub assorted veggies like squash and zucchini.)
garlic/italian seasoning/salt/pepper to taste
- Heat oven to 400°F.
- Cook thoroghly sausage and mushrooms (or saute assorted veggies if making vaggie version) with garlic,italian seasoning and salt and pepper to taste.
- In saucepan, combine spaghetti sauce and water; heat to boiling, stirring frequently.
- Reduce heat; keep warm.
- In bowl, stir together cheeses, parsley, egg, salt and pepper; spoon into uncooked pasta tubes.
- Pour 1 cup sauce on bottom of 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish; arrange filled pasta in single layer over sauce.
- Pour remaining sauce over pasta; sprinkle with cheese if desired and cover with foil.
- Bake 40 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Remove foil; bake 5 minutes longer.
- Serve -pasta and filling will be HOT!
- Enjoy!
- To make ahead and freeze:.
- MAKE AHEAD DIRECTIONS: Prepare as directed above; cool 30 minutes.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap; then foil.
- Freeze up to 2 months.
- Thaw in refrigerator overnight (casserole is too dry if heated from frozen state)May want to add a small amount of additional moisture- water or sauce.
- Bake at 350°F 60 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
Now I couldn't find in this recipe what I was supposed to do with my meat. So I just poured it over the manicotti before I added the sauce. I did 2 at once. We ate one and I froze one. It was only one extra meall, but those manicotti take forever to stuff, so I felt better for getting two done and knowing that the next time we eat this meal the only work I'll be doing will be sliding it in the oven. And Emmy, I know it's not dairy free. Sorry. Hard to do manicotti without dairy. I'll work on it.
Oh, I almost forgot. I got this recipe at Recipezaar which is a great recipe site, with an amazing cooking community. They get all giddy over taking photos of food, and they are so helpful when someone new comes along who wants to try freezer cooking. Love that place.
Happy Monday and happy cooking all! See ya tomorrow!
