Popcorn and Manicotti

First of all, my three-year-old just walked up to me and informed me that:
"cleaning my ears with popcorn would be a bad idea"
Which, by the way, I completely agree with; it would.
Thankfully there is no popcorn in the house, that I know of, so I'm hopeful this is just a hypothetical statement......

But, on to other things.

One of the things I love about having a menu planned ahead of time, is that it gives me a starting point, when plans change. I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but to me a menu is just a plan, and you can always switch meals around to fit what is going on in real life. At least you have the ingredients already on hand to make the switch!

When I found out a few days ago, that we were able to vist some friends who live about an hour and a half away from us, I was really excited! We love to visit them and miss being able to spend a lot of time together. Our kids and our parenting styles are complementary, so its always fun to visit!
The great thing is that we are both expecting our fifth child, and our due dates are only a day apart.
The not-so-great news is that she has been on bed-rest for many weeks now, and we haven't been able to vist very much.

So, when I checked the menu to see what I would need to switch around, (since we won't be eating lunch or dinner at home today). I realized that the menu I had planned for Saturday lent itself really well to being doubled, and frozen. This way, I have an extra dinner on hand when I need it, and I can take one down to my friends to stock in thier freezer while mom is on bed-rest!

I made baked manicotti.

I just doubled the recipe for the filling and used the big mixing bowl.
Once everything was mixed together I put the filling in a gallon ziplock bag and cut one of the corners off. I used it as a piping bag to fill the shells.

Our grocery store was sold out of manicotti shells, so I just used the jumbo shells instead. The original recipe called for 8oz of manicotti shells, but the 12oz box of jumbo shells filled both 9x13 pans with 20 shells each, and there were a few left over.

The other cool thing about this recipe (besides being a great way to get spinach into my kids), is that you don't have to boil the shells before you fill them. You just put the filling in the uncooked shells, and add some water to the spaghetti sauce. As a result you do add quite a lot of sauce (you want to cover the shells) They will absorb the extra moisture as they cook.

I just added a pre-packaged salad and frozen garlic bread. I popped theirs in the freezer, and they can bake it up anytime. We can save ours for anytime we need a meal, and I'm too busy to cook!

If you'd like a pdf with all of the recipes and a grocery list here's the link:

Dec 24 Menu