Manicotti....Sort of.

Another Monday has come and gone....meatlessly. I got into an Italian food mood this week. Of course, Italian food is awesome any time...especially when loaded down with cheese. Hence, the idea in my head of cheese and spinach manicotti.

I do not just keep manicotti shells lying around the house, so this means I need to make a trip to the store. I can not afford to go waaaaaaaay into town for noodles. Yes, I live that far away; yes, my vehicle burns THAT much fuel. I went to my locally owned small town market. It's less than two miles away so I only burned like a gallon of gas. My locally owned small town market does not feel the need to stock manicotti shells. It's a small town of Cajuns. Not a high demand for pasta it seems. I was able to get some lasagna though. And an idea was born. PRETEND they're manicotti shells!

I made my filling of ricotta, cottage cheese, shredded mozzarella, shredded Romano, parsley and spinach. Yum! I broke my lasagna noodles in half and soaked them in hot water until they were pliable enough to roll. Then, I put a spoon full of cheese filling on the noodle and rolled it up. Does this make it an Italian enchilada?

I made a tomato sauce of diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, onion, bell pepper and spices. I put this over the top of my lasagna rolls and baked them for about 20 minutes. I saved calories by not putting cheese all over the top. I served this with a really diverse salad and home made balsamic vinaigrette. Most people don't realize all the stuff you can put on a salad! Mine had beets, carrots, a dark green lettuce (not iceberg!) mushrooms, cucumbers, tomatillos, and Romano cheese.

The verdict? Everyone but my youngest loved the lasagna rolls. She decided she wanted nothing to do with it and just ate salad, but I'm okay with that. Salad is good.


I've managed to keep off the weight I lost during the family emergency a couple of weeks ago. I am proud to say I'm under 200 pounds for the first time in a looooong time. My clothes are too big, which I can live with. In a few more pounds maybe I'll buy myself some new clothes. In the meantime, I'll just keep working at it, and PRAY I have enough willpower to resist the cake I'm going to bake for my sister-in-love. Her birthday is coming. Help me Lord to not have too much of a celebratory spirit!