"Sausage-and-Peppers" Baked Manicotti

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Nutritional Info
  • Servings Per Recipe: 7
  • Amount Per Serving
  • Calories: 404.6
  • Total Fat: 18.6 g
  • Cholesterol: 58.6 mg
  • Sodium: 903.0 mg
  • Total Carbs: 42.7 g
  • Dietary Fiber: 3.9 g
  • Protein: 19.5 g

View full nutritional breakdown of "Sausage-and-Peppers" Baked Manicotti calories by ingredient


Introduction

The flavors of a Chicago Italian pizza and pasta joint, stuffed into manicotti and baked. The bulk in the filling comes from onions and green peppers with just a little Italian sausage for flavor. The flavors of a Chicago Italian pizza and pasta joint, stuffed into manicotti and baked. The bulk in the filling comes from onions and green peppers with just a little Italian sausage for flavor.
Number of Servings: 7

Ingredients

    1 package manicotti (about 14 noodles)
    4 oz. mild Italian sausage
    2 c. finely diced green pepper
    1 c. finely diced red onion
    2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
    1 c. part-skim ricotta cheese
    4 oz. light cream cheese
    2 egg whites, lightly beaten
    2 T. grated pecorino romano cheese
    1 t. Italian seasoning
    pinch salt
    pinch pepper
    pinch crushed red pepper
    1 can or jar (about 3 cups) low-fat pasta sauce
    1 c. shredded mozzarella

Tips

Easy noodle stuffing: put filling into a sandwich bag. Snip off a corner and get a helper to hold the noodles while you pipe the filling inside.


Directions

Prepare and drain manicotti per package instructions.

Heat saute pan to medium high. Squeeze sausage from casing and brown it, mashing it up to get a very fine crumble. Remove sausage to a medium-sized bowl. Cook the green peppers, onion and garlic in the pan drippings. (There won't be too much.) When soft (about 5 minutes), add to the sausage in the bowl.

When the sausage/vegetable mixture is cool, add the ricotta, cream cheese, egg whites, pecorino romano, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. Stir well to combine.

Spread 1/2 jar marinara on the bottom of a 13x9 glass dish

Fill the cooled manicotti with the mixture and place on top of the marinara. Top with the remaining sauce and sprinkle with 1 c. shredded mozzarella.

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and starting to brown.