The Best Darn Supper- Stuffed Manicotti Shells

Spinach and Cheese Manicotti

This is one of my tried and true all time favorite recipes for supper. I got it from allrecipes.com awhile back, and it was an instant staple in my recipe collection. 

The best things about this recipe are:

1. You don't need to bother with side dishes. This meal has all four food groups covered beautifully.
2. You will not need to shove the veggies down your kids' throats- they eat them willing because they are tasteless in this recipe!
3. You do not need to stuff cooked manicotti shells. If you have ever tried stuffing cooked manicotti shells you probably have never done it again. It's impossible! which makes me wonder why there are not more recipes where you stuff uncooked shells. 
4. Healthy, Healthy, Healthy!
5. Yummy, Yummy, Yummy!!

Here it is:
This recipe feeds our family of four for two meals- dinner, and lunch the next day.  If you want to make an extra one to freeze for later, this is a great recipe for that.

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley (not needed)
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 (8 ounce) package manicotti shells
• (I also add 1 lb ground Italian sausage or turkey sausage to the spaghetti sauce)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine ricotta, spinach, onion and egg. Season with parsley, pepper and garlic powder. Mix in 1 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan. In a separate bowl, stir together spaghetti sauce and water.
3. Spread 1 cup sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Stuff uncooked manicotti shells with ricotta mixture, and arrange in a single layer in the dish. Cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 55 minutes, or until noodles are soft. (I usually have to add about 25 minutes onto this amount because the noodles take longer to cook for me for some strange reason)