Cheese Filled Manacotti with Rich Meat Sauce. . .

Yes, I made this for my superbowl party with no superbowl. It took forever. It was as bad as making lasagna. Cook the manicotti which are the same thing as jumbo shells but it doesn't say that on the box so there is no way to know that until after you make the dish. That takes a while because the shells are big. Then there is the meat sauce. There is the measuring of the stuff that goes into the meat sauce. There is the browning of the meat for the meat sauce and the measuring of the garlic which is half a teaspoon of equals one clove of garlic not tablespoon, which luckily I got right but was not so lucky with the oregano, basil and other wierd spice that spilled all over my counter top. The meat in the recipe was 12 ounces of meat and the meat in the package was .97lbs which is close enoungh to 16 ounces and I said to hell with it and browned it all and added it all for the richness. I guess it was better that I added more spices than was called for now that I think about it. Then there is the cheese filling which was probably the easiest thing to make. 3 Cheeses in a bowl with parsley and egg and mix: could have been called cake! Then there is the stuffing the shells without tearing the shells up. Icky cheese under my finger nails, stuck to the spoon, tearing the shells, arg, hard. Then there is the placing the stuffed shells without burning your fingers on the rich meat sauce. Then there is the covering of the stuffed shells without burning your self. Then there is the excess cheese spreading. Then there is the 35 minutes of smelling that comes with the cooking that makes me hungry.

John and I got to the pot luck party only to find that the host was an idiot and forgot to order the superbowl on his satellite so we went to a superbowl party with no superbowl. We left early, but everyone loved the manicotti. It made so much that I have manicotti for the whole week! Hurray! I did it.