The theme for this week in the Whip It Up Challenge is Vegetarian. I made Easy Meatless Manicotti that I had found in a Cooking Light magazine.  I must have been holding on to this clipping for quite a while, because I haven’t subscribed to that magazine for years! It’s got quite a bit of dairy, so it’s not completely vegan, but meatless anyway.

I don’t cook a lot of meatless dishes, but both Chad and I like pasta a lot, so this caught my eye.

Was the recipe easy to follow?

Yes, it was very easy to follow. Although stuffing the individual shells wasn’t my favorite process. Everything else was easy and pretty effortless.

Did the dish taste good?

YES! It was excellent. Of course, Chad thought it’d be better with some meat, but then I think that would make the shells even harder to stuff! 🙂 Maria liked it too!

Would you make it again?

Definitely. I’d probably halve the recipe though, it was a lot for 2 1/2 people.  I’d also probably only add 1 cup of cheese to the filling and leave more for the top.  I had extra filling after stuffing the 14 shells full.  I read some reviews of the recipe online now too since I made it, and I would probably take the suggestion of using a plastic bag to fill the manicotti.

Easy Meatless Manicotti

2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1 (16-ounce) carton fat-free cottage cheese
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (8-ounce) package manicotti (14 shells)
1 (26-ounce) jar fat-free tomato-basil pasta sauce
Cooking spray
1 cup water

Preheat oven to 375°.Combine 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, cottage cheese, and the next 5 ingredients (through black pepper) in a medium bowl. Spoon about 3 tablespoons cheese mixture into each uncooked manicotti. Pour half of tomato-basil pasta sauce into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange stuffed shells in a single layer over sauce, and top with the remaining sauce. Pour 1 cup water into dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella evenly over sauce. Cover tightly with foil. Bake at 375° for 1 hour or until shells are tender. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

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