Super Easy Manicotti!

My family loves manicotti.  You'd think we were Italian or something.

But no.  German heritage here.

And still huge pasta-cheese dish lovers all around.

Last fall I shared my favorite manicotti recipe.

This summer I figured out an easier way to make it.

I've used no-boil lasagna before to speed up my one pot lasagna dish.  I hadn't ever seen no-boil manicotti.  But still, I figured this must be possible.  It has to be.

My biggest challenge with manicotti is filling the boiled and drained shells.  They always split open and looked awful.  Plus they were just so hard to work with.

So I got smart.  I googled.  I found this:  No Boil Spinach and Cheese Manicotti and decided to try it with my own recipe.

The technique is beyond simple.  Don't bother to boil the manicotti.  Just put the tomato sauce in the dish and fill the raw manicotti with the cheese mixture.  I don't have a pastry bag so I used a ziploc bag with a small hole cut in the corner to pipe the mixture in.  When I was done filling them I made sure they were covered nicely with tomato sauce then covered it with aluminum foil and put it in the fridge.

Sooooo much better than dealing with hot slippery manicotti!

So my new and improved recipe is below:

2 boxes of manicotti
1 lb of ricotta
1 c grated parmesan cheese
a couple of handfuls of spinach, finely chopped (optional, but even my mom eats spinach mixed into her manicotti!)
1 egg
1/2 tsp basil
1/4-1/2 tsp crushed garlic (or onion powder)
1 tsp onion powder
2 tbsp chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste
2 large jars/cans of your favorite pasta sauce
up to 2 cups of shredded cheese--mozzarella or a mix like colby jack

Mix the ricotta, egg and spices together.  










Pour about 1/2 can of pasta sauce into a 9x13 baking dish.  (Actually I also used a small baking dish for the "overflow" manicotti--it's in the freezer for a quick lunch prep for another day)

Stuff the manicotti by piping the cheese mixture into the shells with a pastry bag or the very low tech ziploc bag with a hole cut in one corner..  
   
Place stuffed shells in the baking dish.  Cover with the rest of the pasta sauce.  You might choose to add a bit of water to help soften the pasta.

Cover the baking pan with aluminum foil and place in the fridge until you are ready to bake.  Bake at 350 F for 35-40 minutes.  Then remove the aluminum foil and add 1-2 cups of shredded cheese. (I prefer to stay closer to 1 cup because we just don't need all that cheese.)  Bake for another 10-15 minutes.  Let rest for another 10 minutes before serving.