Spinach and Cheese Manicotti

Yesterday I had a lovely experience with my stove.  Scared the living daylights out of me.  So I guess tonight is a perfect night to use the oven instead of the burner because I am not quite over that shock.  I was cooking a simple skillet meal when all of sudden the burner exploded sending a large ball of fire at me and put a hole in my awesome jumbo cooker I got from my dad for Christmas.  Fortunately he bought it from Bed, Bath, and Beyond so I will get an even exchange and the complex fixed my stove.  However, I am not quite ready to start using it again.

I guess I am a chicken and from everything I read it just happens sometimes due to age and other weakening of the coils.  I am just happy no one was hurt and I wasn't using the fryer to...well...deep fry. That would have been terrible!

Well I suppose that is enough of my near death experience (I know a little dramatic, but we are allowed to be that way once in a while...right?!?).  Since I am not ready to tackle the stove I decided to make a nice baked spinach and cheese manicotti that can be made ahead of time.

Spinach and Cheese Manicotti
1 Box Manicotti Noodles, uncooked
1 - 15oz container of Ricotta Cheese
4 oz Cream Cheese
1/2 Cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
8 oz Shredded Mozzarella, plus 8 oz for topping (I used fresh, sliced mozzarella for the top)
2 Large Eggs
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Parsley
4 Cups of Spaghetti Sauce or 2 Jars
10 oz Package of Frozen Chopped Spinach, thawed with moisture squeezed out

• In a large bowl mix together cheeses (except for topping), eggs, ricotta, cream cheese, seasonings, and spinach (I beat mine on high with a hand held mixer to fully combine)

• Put 1-1/2 cups of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish, spread evenly, and set aside

• Place the filling mixture in a piping bag or ziploc bag and pipe into the manicotti shells.  Hold the shell in one hand and squeeze bag from top to fill shells.  Put enough filling to over flow both ends and then place in sauce lined pan.  Repeat for the rest of the shells or until you run out of filling.

• Cover the pasta with the remaining sauce, top with cheese, and cover with foil

• At this point you can either place it in the fridge until you are ready to bake or bake it in a preheated 350 degree oven for 50 minutes.  Remove Foil and continue to bake uncovered for 10 more minutes.

This is a great dish to make for company.  It looks so pretty and tastes amazing!  But I am sucker for noodles and cheese ;)  How can you go wrong?  It's definitely worth the work!  

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