Great dish! Not your average manicotti. I was a little weary of the salsa but it turned out amazingly well. I follow the recipe with just a few slight changes. I used V8 vegetable juice instead of tomato juice, used dried chopped onions instead of powder, and used crushed croutons for breadcrumbs. I also doubled the sauce (don't double the V8 juice). TIP- To fill manicotti easily, fill up a freezer bag with filling and cut a small hole in the corner and squeeze in shells. Much easier than trying the other way. I froze half the recipe I hope it freezes well. I'll comment later.
This is totally awesome! I made this for dinner tonight. I didn't make any changes. I did have leftover ricotta mixture, so I just spread it over the top before baking. I filled the manicotti shells with a pastry press. It was a two person job, but was easy that way. My family isn't really into meatless meals, but we didn't even notice there wasn't any! Definitely a make again thing!!! Yummy!
This was wonderful! Basically followed recipe as printed with the exception of fresh spinach (that it what I had on hand), cottage cheese instead of ricotta (more flavor and cheaper), no sour cream (my husband dislikes it so much it ruins the taste for him), and added parmesan to the cheese mixture. Otherwise, followed directions precisely and was fantastic. Loved the salsa & wouldn't change that for anything. Such a good veggie recipe my family didn't realize there was no meat until I told them. Thank you!
Wonderful recipe, easy to make... had it for dinner last night. I was wary of the salsa at first but it gave the recipe a wonderful flavor. Will likely be having it again soon.
This is my families favorite dish I make. I bring it over on the Holidays. However, I do make a few changes, I omit the salsa and Juice and just use my homemade spaghetti sauce w/ diced tomatoes. I also add Cream Cheese and Artichokes to the mixture.
This recipe was very easy to make and not having to work the cooked manicotti made it so much easier to stuff. The filling was a bit dry and I really think it would have been better with a marinara instead of salsa. I will try it again that way and see if I like it better.
Good, easy recipe! Instead of salsa, I used a jar pasta sauce I had in the pantry, and it did the trick. Next time I'll try using a pastry bag to fill the manicotti to cut down on prep time. Also, be warned that you will have PLENTY of extra ricotta/spinach mixture. Probably enough to fill another 7-10 shells or another 1/2 box of manicotti. I'm planning on adding some sundried tomatoes to my leftover mix and using it to stuff chicken breasts. YUM!
Pretty good, although I have to admit I made a few changes- some due to necessity, some due to taste preferences. I didn't have Italian Seasoning, so I omitted that, and I had to use garlic salt instead of garlic powder. Also, I wasn't feeling adventurous enough to try the salsa-based sauce, and I had some marinara sauce in the fridge (Jackie's Best Marinara Sauce Yet, featured on this site) so I used that instead. Turned out pretty good! I'd make it again.
Although I modified the recipe, I am glad I did. I kept to the recipe as far as the filling mixture goes. That's the part that was lacking, big time. It did not have much flavor. I had some Italian sausage and some homemade sauce in the freezer that I used instead of the salsa... and that gave it the flavor it needed. I would recommend adding a lot more or different seasoning to the filling...unless you prefer bland. I will search out another recipe.
