Spinach and Cheese Manicotti

So tonight Jeremy made dinner.  Since I had a late class, I wrote the recipe down this morning and he had the manicotti in the oven when I got home.  Unfortunately, since he cooked, I have to do the dishes tonight...

We've made this several times and it's relatively easy.  I use part-skim ricotta and this is fairly healthy thanks to the good amount of spinach and the veggies in the pasta sauce.  I really wish I could find a whole-wheat manicotti but so far no luck.  So the few times when we have this we have regular pasta.

I've managed to eliminate the need to cook the pasta before it goes in the oven.  There is enough liquid in the filling and the sauce to fully cook the manicotti.  This makes it easier to stuff them before they go in the oven and doesn't at all change how they taste.

Apart from the amount of time that this spends in the oven, it's a really quick dish to make.  As long as I have time to be at home while this is cooking, I usually get a good amount of work done.  And it's a very tasty dish.

Recipe:
7 manicotti tubes (half a box)
16 oz. ricotta
1/3 c. parmesan cheese
2 c. frozen chopped spinach
1 tbs. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 pinch crushed red pepper flake
1 1/2 - 2 c. spaghetti sauce

1. Preheat oven to 350. Defrost the spinach by microwaving for 5 minutes.  Let sit until it's cool enough to handle.  Squeeze the liquid out.
2. Mix all the ingredients except the manicotti tubes and the spaghetti sauce in a bowl until thoroughly combined.
3. Spread 1/2 c. spaghetti sauce in the bottom of an 8x8 inch glass baking dish.  Stuff each manicotti tube with filling until full and arrange in the baking dish. (You can just put the extra filling into the dish around the manicotti and eat it later... it's tasty outside of the tubes too.)
4. Cover with remaining spaghetti sauce (the manicotti don't need to be swimming, just mostly covered - this can vary depending on the exact size and contours of the baking dish).
5. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hr until the pasta is tender. (Don't use a metal baking dish and foil... this can create a nasty reaction if the tomato sauce touches a metal pan and the foil... but this won't happen if you use a glass baking dish.)