Three Cheese Manicotti

One of the family's favorites. Big ol' salad & garlic bread, can make it as a lasagna, too. Making fresh pasta though, lawrd, that makes a difference!

Playlist: Montgomery Gentry/My Town, Stay a little longer. Dan & Shay/I should probably go to bed, Speechless. Chris Stapleton/You should probably leave

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package manicotti shells (so much better if you make the pasta yourself, lazy bum)

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, keep it separate, gonna use it twice

2 cups ricotta cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons dried basil

2 (26 ounce) jars pasta sauce (not worth making, big mess, little flavor. Hello jar of whateverisonesalethisweek…)

Mess making time

Oven to 350

In a big ol’ bowl, mix 3 cups mozzarella cheese, all the ricotta, 1/2 cup Parmesan, garlic, egg, and basil. I use the KitchenAid (duh). Oh, and I got the slicer/grater thing attachment for it too. Use that bitch when making this much cheese (also for the Smoked Mac/Chee)

In a 9x13 pan (or larger) put in a little bit of pasta sauce, just enough to coat the bottom

Boil some salted water & cook manicotti noodles for 7-9 minutes & drain, cool & fill with cheese concoction. (start the boiling before you start making the cheese. . . it’s called time management, dumbass)

If you listened to me like you should have, and made fresh dough using the pasta roller, no need. Roll out long strip of fresh pasta, spoon the filling in about every 3 inches, cut & roll closed, then just bake… but you're not listening, are you?

Set your stuffed manicotti rolls into the sauce lined pan, then dump the rest of the sauce. Cover with all the mozzarella cheese, if there's any left because that 4ft bastard keeps sneaking bites…. What, think I didn’t see that? GD right I see that, you cheese stealing little shit.

Bake 15 minutes. Throw on the other ½ cup Parmesan, bake about another 10 minutes, just until the top layers of cheese start to brown.

Can also make this same exact recipe, but as a cheese lasagna. I prefer the manicotti myself, but the kids like lasagna. Good thing they don’t get a vote.