My Favorite Things
Cheesy Manicotti
This recipe is really great! It reduces the cheese, thus the calories, by adding in mushrooms and spinach.
Servings: 7, 2 stuffed Manicotti each
Prep: 40 minutes
Total: 1 hour 25 minutes
Ingredients
1 pkg (8 oz) sliced mushrooms ((any kind my favorite is Baby bellas) (small enough to fit into the shells)
3 cloves garlic minced
3 egg whites
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 container (15 oz) part skim ricotta cheese
1 cup 2% milk reduced fat shredded Mozzarella cheese divided
1/3 cup 100% Grated Parmesan cheese, divided
Salt and pepper
Italian seasoning
1 pkg (8 oz) Manicotti shells (14 shells) cooked and drained (do not forget to cook them in salted water)
2 cups tomato sauce (I found this scant, as I like to ladle more over it, so go with 4+ cups if you are like me)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350' F. Spray an large nonstick skillet with Pam spray. Add mushrooms and garlic, cook 5 minutes on medium heat stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Beat egg whites lightly in a medium bowl. Add mushroom mixture, spinach, ricotta cheese and half each of the mozzarella cheese and the parmesan cheeses, salt and pepper, and a fee shakes of Italian Seasoning; mix well. Spoon evenly in the Manicotti shells.
Place in the 13x9 inch baking dish sprayed with Pam. Cover with Tomato sauce.
Bake 40 minutes or until heated through. Top with the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheeses; continue baking for 5 more minutes or until the mozzarella is melted.
Calories: 340 Cholesterol: 30 mg Carbs 37g Protein 23 g Fat 11g
What Are Your Favorite Things?
Cheesy Low Fat Manicotti
Notes: Check the Manicotti boxes for quantity, as some brands have 10 or 12 shells, not 14.
Also, the ribbed shells tend to tear when handling so if you can find the smooth ones, it will be easier. And do not cook them all the way through either. You may need to heat them longer than the 5 minutes if so, but at least they will not fall apart. If they do, fill them and place them in the pan split side up, cover with cheese and sauce.
To ease stuffing the shells, spoon the filling into a ziplock bag, snip a lower corner to pipe the filling into the shells. Make sure the opening is wide enough for the mushrooms.
This recipe also worked great with Large Stuffed Shells.
Leftovers: You can always reheat this dish for leftovers. Any left over sauce can be frozen. I like to put mine in a Freezer Ziplock bag filled no higher than 3/4 full as they can sit flat in my freezer. Great for other recipes!