Sausage Manicotti

I found the recipe on All Recipes and have used it lots! I'm not a Ricotta cheese fan, so I like the fact that it uses cream cheese instead.

I pretty much follow the recipe but add more Mozzarella cheese, use the whole box of Manicotti and more sauce.

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground sausage
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 (16 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
• 12 manicotti shells

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add manicotti shells and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3. In a skillet over medium heat, brown the sausage; drain and keep hot. In a large bowl combine cream cheese, 1 3/4 cup of the mozzarella cheese and sausage.
4. Stuff noodles with cheese and sausage mixture; place in baking dish. Pour sauce over top of noodles and sprinkle with extra cheese. Bake for 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

This is what the cooked sausage, cream cheese and Mozzarella look like before stuffing your noodles. I use about 2 cups of Mozzarella in the cheese mixture and then top the manicotti with another cup. I could eat this stuff by itself. Sounds gross, but it is tasty! Like I mentioned earlier, I also cook the whole box of manicotti. Just don't stuff the noodles too full or you won't have enough for all of them.


Suggestion: After the noodles are done cooking, spray your pan with cooking spray and put the noodles in it to cool a bit. Very important to spray your pan so your manicotti doesn't stick. As you can see some of my noodles come apart, but that is no biggie. I use my fingers to stuff the noodles. It's much easier then trying to use a spoon. I forgot to take a picture but you then add your sauce. The recipe calls for 16 oz, but I use a whole jar. They are usually about 26-28 ounces. I then top the sauce with a cup of Mozzarella cheese.


Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes then enjoy!