No Boil Manicotti Florentine

I wondered how this would do without boiling the shells first, and it was great! Not boiling the manicotti also makes it easier to fill, even though it can still be a little messy. Allow some time for the filling process, just so you don't rush and squeeze it everywhere.

Ingredients

• 16 oz container of small curd cottage cheese
• 4 ounces cream cheese*
• 7 oz bag shredded mozzarella
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons onion powder (NOT onion salt!)
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder (again, NOT salt!)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 box chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed as dry as you can get it 
• 1 box manicotti shells, uncooked
• 32 oz of your favorite spaghetti sauce 
• Grated/Shredded Parmesan cheese 
• basil and/or oregano
• cooking spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Put first eight ingredients into your food processor and give it a few pulses to mix together (don't go crazy here). Add the spinach and pulse a couple more times, so everything is nicely incorporated. 

(*  I didn't have any regular cream cheese on hand this time, so I substituted some French onion The Laughing Cow brand cheese (four triangles worth) and it worked well.)

Spoon a cup or more of sauce into the bottom of a 13 x 9 baking dish. You need it to thickly cover the bottom.

Using either a large pastry bag (which works best) or a gallon zip lock, fold the top down and fill it with all the cheesy goodness. (This works best when you turn down the top 3-4 inches of the bag, so it doesn't go all over the opening.)

Cut a small slit in the bottom corner, but please don't make it too big to start with. It needs to fit into the end of the manicotti shell so the filling goes in easy. If it isn't flowing, you can make it a little bigger. If you start too big, it will squish out around the opening when you squeeze the bag.

Fill each shell and nestle them in the sauce. (Don't they look cozy?)

After the shells are all filled, cover with a thick layer of sauce  (you don't need to use it all). Then add 1/4 cup of water to the corner of the dish.  Sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese, basil and oregano (to taste). 

Cover with double layer of foil that is sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 60 minutes. Uncover, and bake for 5-10 more minutes. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before eating.

Obviously, this goes well with garlic bread and a salad -- but you could cheat and just carb out with just the garlic bread.

Yum!