DeDee's Manicotti

Name: DeDee's Manicotti
Total time: 5400 s
Yield: 10 to 12 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 3 boxes Manicotti pasta shells; 2 (32 oz) tubs ricotta cheese; 2 (12 oz) cans of tomato paste; 4 cans (2.25 oz) black olives (sliced); 2 quarts spaghetti sauce; 1 bag (10 oz) fresh spinach; 2 lbs Italian sausage; salt and pepper to taste; 1 tbls garlic powder or substitute one whole clove garlic; 1 tbls Italian seasoning; 1 shredded mozzarella cheese; 1 tub (5 oz) shredded parmesan cheese

DeDee Freeman @mrsdonk

Manicotti variations are basically in the way you make your stuffing and what kind of sauce you use. For this recipe, I'm using sausage and spinach stuffing, in Manicotti pasta shells. For the sauce, I'm using homemade spaghetti sauce made from ripe tomatoes from our family garden, (recipe for the sauce to come later.) This recipe is rather large and can feed up to ten or twelve people. You may want to shorten it to your liking or wait for a large family gathering. The sauce is thick and zesty with lots of cheese. Enjoy, and be sure to like and follow me for more recipes.

DeDee Freeman @mrsdonk

Saved

Ingredients

1 hour 30 minutes

10 to 12 servings

3 boxesManicotti pasta shells
2 (32 oz)tubs ricotta cheese
2 (12 oz)cans of tomato paste
4 cans (2.25 oz)black olives (sliced)
2 quartsspaghetti sauce
1 bag (10 oz)fresh spinach
2 lbsItalian sausage
salt and pepper to taste
1 tblsgarlic powder or substitute one whole clove garlic
1 tblsItalian seasoning
1shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tub (5 oz)shredded parmesan cheese
Making The Stuffing

Saved

Steps

1 hour 30 minutes

1

In a skillet cook the two pounds of sausage and chop to a very fine consistency. Then set aside to cool.
2

In a food processor, finely chop the spinach, black olives, and cooked sausage that has cooled. It has to be fine enough to be able to go through a cake funnel or injector to stuff the pasta (Manicotti shells.)
3

In a large bowl incorporate all the fine-stuffing ingredients with the ricotta cheese. This would be a good time to add any salt, pepper, garlic powder or finely chopped garlic cloves
4

Mix the two cans of tomato paste with your spaghetti sauce to thicken it
5

Finely chop, by hand, one cup onion chives and parsley
6

In a very large casserole pan, put a layer of spaghetti sauce in the bottom. Stuff the (un-cooked Manicotti shells) with the ricotta cheese mixture using a cake funnel or injector and lay over the top of the spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle with some mozzarella cheese
7

You may want to use an additional casserole pan and repeat this process to compensate for the large amount of ingredients
8

Add another layer of spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle chives, parsley and a generous amount of mozzarella cheese and parmezan cheese. Cover with tin foil and bake at 450° for approximately one hour.
9

Uncover and bake an additional half hour or until cheese begins to golden. Set aside for fifteen minutes to cool and then serve with garlic bread