Mom's Manicottis

"When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie that's AMORE." That is the song that comes to mind when I eat Italian food. I worked at an Italian restaurant for about nine years and couldn't ever get enough of their manicottis or that song that played hourly on their old jukebox. I love the cheesy goodness of that lovely stuffed noodle. My Mom makes some pretty hard to beat manicottis and I have been using her recipe for as long as I can remember. I just took a double batch of these over to my brother's new house where he had a crew of family members busy painting, texturing, cleaning and installing. They were in dire need of food and these seem to hit the spot. They got some rave reviews that day so I thought you might like to make them too and see what you think.

Mom's Manicottis

A batch of your best spaghetti sauce - if you are in a hurry like me, use a jar of Ragu!

A box of manicotti noodles

1/2 pound mozzarella (8 oz)

3/4 cup cottage cheese

2 slightly beaten eggs

2 tbsp. of Parmesan

1/4 tsp. salt and pepper


Cook your spaghetti sauce and set aside. Pull out a 9 x 13 baking pan and put about a full cup of spaghetti sauce in bottom of pan. Make sure you move it around making sure a small amount is disbursed throughout most of the pan. Then the fun begins... In mixing bowl combine the mozzarella and next four ingredients. Next, open manicotti noodles. You will not need to boil the noodles on this recipe, the magic happens with the sauce and the foil. Wash up your hands and then dive into the goo and begin stuffing each noodle with mixture from the mixing bowl. I used to try to do this neatly, but you just have to get your hands messy on this one, sorry. Set each noodle in pan leaving about an inch or so in between each one. This allows for some growing room when they cook. Lastly, you will pour the remaining sauce over all the stuffed noodles in the pan. You want to make sure that all of them are well covered. Since these noodles have not been boiled, they will be dependent on the heat and the steam of the sauce to cook them up nicely. Make sure to cover with foil (if you don't cover it, that steam won't cook your noodles) and pop it into the oven for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve it with some sourdough bread from your local bakery and a green salad and of course some wine! Let me know how they come out.

~ Deb
Your Cowgirl in Waiting