Recipe 1, Week 2: Spinach & Mushroom Manicotti

NOTES
• This is a great recipe to make on Sunday and eat either Monday or Tuesday night. Make recipe as directed and cover tightly in fridge for up to two days. While you're at it, double the recipe and make two pans so you'll have one to freeze later! Bake a frozen manicotti right out of the freezer at 350 degrees for about 2 hours or until hot and bubbly.
• Instead of ricotta, you can use cottage cheese. I did this last time and it still tasted great!
• Pasta sauce can be expensive. An inexpensive kind that actually tastes good is Hunts Four Cheese in a large can.
• Use what's left of the spinach in this recipe in Recipe 4's Saucy Italian Orzo with Spinach


INGREDIENTS
• 1 pkg manicotti noodles
• About 6-8 medium-sized mushrooms, diced fine
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• Approximately 6 oz spinach, chopped (several large handfuls before chopping)
• 1 3/4 c. cottage cheese or ricotta
• 2 c. mozzarella
• 1/4 c. parmesan
• 1-2 eggs, lightly beaten (use 2 if after mixing everything together, the mixture is not sticking together really well)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp basil
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 jar/can pasta sauce

DIRECTIONS
1. Cook noodles according to directions. DO NOT overcook as they will split and be difficult to fill. You can cool them on wax paper so they don't stick to each other.
2. In a saucepan, heat one tablespoon olive oil and saute chopped mushrooms for about 5 minutes on medium-low heat. Add garlic and cook for 30 sec longer then add chopped spinach and cook about 1 minute more or until wilted.
3. In a large bowl, mix the cottage cheese, mozarella, parmesan, spices and eggs. Add mushroom mixture to cheese mixture and stir.
4. Spread a 9x11 inch pan about a quarter of the pasta sauce. Fill manicotti with mixture and place in pan. You can put the filling in a ziplock bag then snip one corner of the bag, insert it in noodle and fill. I usually find it makes less mess to just use a spoon and my fingers. Spoon rest of sauce over manicotti and cover tightly with foil.
5. Cook at 400 degrees for about 25 min or until hot and bubbly. Remove foil and top with extra parmesan cheese.