Spinach Manicotti
I made this WW recipe on Sunday night and Gerald raved over it. He never raves about my cooking. Try it for yourself : )
I made six shells and had plenty of cheese mixture left over; enough for another batch. I just popped it in the freezer and will use it next time. I also used a whole box of frozen spinach and it was too much for me. Gerald said it was tasty, but I thought the spinach overwhelmed the cheesy taste of the manicotti. So, use less if you want a more traditional tasting manicotti. Also, you may think a serving size of one manicotti is ridiculous, as did I. However, I had a salad before dinner and one manicotti was perfect. Even Gerald only ate two. They’re really filling. Ok, enough with the notes… let’s get to the recipe already!
POINTS® Value: 5
Servings: 8
Preparation Time: 7 min
Cooking Time: 30 min
Level of Difficulty: Moderate (I’d change this to SUPER EASY if it were my recipe.)
Ingredients:
- 8 dry manicotti shells
- 1 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded (4 ounces)
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 tsp table salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning, dried
- 10 oz chopped frozen spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry
- 1 large egg(s), lightly beaten
- 1 large egg white(s)
- 1 sprays olive oil cooking spray
- 1 1/2 cup bottled reduced-fat pasta sauce, roasted garlic flavor
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and rinse.
- Combine ricotta cheese and next eight ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring well. Spoon mixture evenly into pasta shells. Place shells in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spoon pasta sauce evenly over shells. Cover and bake at 350°F for 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve warm. Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 shell and about 1⁄2 cup sauce).
Wow, that receipe sounds really yummy and looks easy too. Might have to try this one.
Tina
How do you fill the manicotti? This is one of the reasons I never make manicotti but instead usually chicken out and use those massive shells or whatever.
And don’t say, oh I fill a pastry bag and then fit it with a tip and then blah de blah because Fuck That Shit.
Dude, I used a teaspoon. I sat one end of the manicotti in the cheese bowl and stuffed the filling in with a teaspoon. When it was nice and plump and not oozing out of the ends too much, I plopped it into a 9 x 13 pan. It was really easy and I’ve never made manicotti before in my life.
*snort* pastry bag. WHATEVER.
Ohhh, ohh, this sounds really yummy. I have lots of great recipes to try for October. My fellow bloggers have been on a fantastic recipe kick lately.
Tessie- I use a Pampered Chef Easy Accent Decorator to fill manicotti. Works wonderfully for that and so much more.
http://pamperedchef.com/our_products/catalog/product.jsp?productId=4075&categoryCode=BK
Yummmm….I think this is going on next week’s menu.
I tried this last night - and just stuffed the manicotti with my hands. The spinach made it clumpy enough to pick up pieces & it wasn’t too bad. It was really good - but I’m with you on the amount of spinach; if I make it again I’ll cut it by some. Thanks for sharing the recipe!