Thursday, April 17, 2008

Wins #4

am I allowed to skip days?

here is my ONE win for the day.

Everyone ate their dinner, no arguing, no bribing, no threatening, no discipline, etc....
in case you're needing a night like that, here's what we had:

Easy Meatless Manicotti

2 c. (8 oz) sh. part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1 (16 oz) carton fat-free cottage cheese
1 (10 oz) pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
1/4 c. (1 oz) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 (8 oz) pkg manicotti (14 shells - I've also used stuffing shells, I think they're easier to 'stuff')
1 (26 oz) jar spaghetti sauce
cooking spray
1 c. water

Preheat oven to 375

Combine 1 1/2 c. mozzarella, cottage cheese, and the next 5 ing. (through pepper) in a medium bowl.
Spoon about 3 tbs. cheese mixture into each uncooked manicotti. Pour half of spagh. sauce into a 9x13 coated with cooking spray.
Arrange stuffed shells in a single layer over sauce, and top with the remaining sauce.
Pour 1 c. water into dish
Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 c. mozz. evenly over sauce.
Cover tightly with foil.
Bake at 375 for 1 hour our until shells are tender.
Let stand 10 min. before serving.

(Holly's Notes: I make this with my Once A Month Cooking so I double the recipe but freeze it in halfs - meaning I get 4 pans of manicotti but generally no leftovers. I make it up to the baking part, freeze it, thaw it in fridge for 24 hours and THEN bake it at 375, covered, for 1 hour. It freezes well like this.)

We also had a plain spinach salad with Ken's Steak House Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette (really, my two oldest toddlers had TWO helpings of this - they love it. I know, it's weird)

Everyone had seconds, it was so wonderful.......if only the rest of the day could have been like that.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

homemade pizzas (especially personal ones) and egg casseroles accomplish this goal for us--every thursday night we have bill-less night. i too long for the meals with no arguing, whining, or cajoling.

hang in there.

Stacy said...

At least it was at the end of the day. I find that if my day ends on an up note then it's easier. I'm proud of you for finding your wins. Don't think any of them are little because they are all big wins with what you have on your plate!! Woohoo!!

Anonymous said...

Oooh, I was just looking for a recipe for my in-law's visit (restrictive diets make it tough to figure out what to make). I think I will try this! Thanks!

Amy said...

Lawson has loved salad for awhile now. We can actually bribe him with it. How many 2 year olds can be bribed with salad!? Glad to hear there are others out there and he's not the only weird one. :)