Cannelloni in a Red Wine Pasta Sauce

This is one of those foolproof dishes, that make people think you slaved all day in the kitchen. It is the ultimate comfort food, and it's super quick and easy to make. You can make it as complicated as you want, by making your own pasta sauce to pour over top, or you can do as I have done and just buy jars from the store. As much as I love the taste of homemade pasta sauce, sometimes it's just as easy to grab a few bottles to just have on hand for dinners like this. I just made this today for my brother and sister-in-law. They just got home today from the hospital with my new little nephew Finn! I thought that they would appreciate a hot meal, and Katy is vegetarian so this was the perfect dish to whip up.

It's also a hard dish to really mess up. I had Jonah help me squish the mixture into the shells. He loved it, it doesn't have to look pretty!




Ingredients

This makes one pan of cannelloni. Enough to feed 4 adults and 2 children easily.
Use egg-less noodles if you have an allergy.

1 box of cannelloni noodles
2 jars of "Sweet Basil Marinara Pasta Sauce"
1 tub of light ricotta cheese
Mozzarella (As much as you want) Approximately 1/3 cup for the filling and extra to sprinkle on top
Fresh brick of Parmesan (1/4 cup for filling)
1 bag or bushel of fresh spinach
1/4 cup of fresh finely chopped basil leaves
Dash of nutmeg (Literally 1 good shake - See picture)
Favorite bottle of red wine (Some for drinking, some for the sauce)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place one cup of sauce and one cup of red wine on the bottom of your pan. This is the base that the noodles will cook on top of. (If you have a bigger pan, don't be shy to add more sauce and more wine. The idea is to make sure the whole bottom of the pan is covered thoroughly). Just think, half and half. Half wine and half sauce.

In a sauce pan on the stove, heat a tiny bit of water and then add the spinach. Wilt down and remove from heat as well as any excess water.

In a large bowl, add the ricotta, 1/3 cup of mozzarella, 1/4 cup of fresh parm, the entire bag of wilted spinach and mix together well. Go ahead and use your hands.

Stuff the noodles with the ricotta mixture. Lay flat in the pan, and leave a tiny gap between each noodle. Do not stack them on top of each other or they will not cook properly. Once all the noodles are filled, take the remaining sauce and cover the noodles. Make sure that every noodle is covered to ensure even baking of the noodles. And finally, top with grated mozzarella and parm - totally up to you about how much you want to put on top!

Bake for 30 minutes, covered in tin foil. At the 30 minute mark, remove the tin foil and bake for 15 minutes more. Remove from oven and serve with fresh Caesar salad and garlic bread. Mmmmm...