• Servings: 4-5 people
• Boxes of either jumbo shells or manicotti get enough for 3 each person eating (remember there is always some broken ones in the box) (this recipe is for 4-5 people)
• 1 lg or 2 sm jars Ragu parmesan and romano flavor
• 1 1/2 Lbs hamburger
• 1 onion rough chopped
• 1/2- 1 green pepper rough chopped
• Opt: 1 cup mushrooms sauteed in butter and shredded provolone cheese if using mushrooms
• Salt, garlic powder, parsley flakes Opt: pepper
• Shredded mozzarella cheese
• Aprox 1/2 C Grated parmesan cheese 1/4 C for sauce mix 1/4 C for cheese mix
• 1 large tub whole milk ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 2 large thick freezer bags

1. Cook pasta 'till firm al dente (it cooks more in oven) strain out hot water and fill pot w/ cold/ cool water
2. Get out 2 pans 1 lg enough to fit sauce in too but not yet split hamburger in 1/2 in each pan fry til not pink any more and strain off grease put meat back in pans
3. in both pans add 1/2 of the onion and garlic powder in bigger pan add the green pepper too (always strain meat before adding onions, peppers ect so you don't strain out all the flavoring of the veggies!)
4. Cook until veggies are soft take pan w/out peppers off heat add the jars of sauce to pan w/ the green pepper and add 1/4 C of parmesan cheese (I always add more)
5. In a bowl add about 2/3rds the container of the ricotta cheese add parmesan cheese, egg, salt and parsley and stir. Separate into 2 bowls when meat mix w/out gr pepper is cool enough add it to 1 of the bowls of cheese and stir. While your waiting for the meat to cool you can put cheese mixes in fridge
6. *If using mushrooms fry in butter until soft set aside
7. Add sauce to baking pan/ casserole pan
8. Spoon cheese meat mix into one zip lock bag and cut corner to use it as a piping bag. Spoon plain cheese mix into other bag and cut corner to use as piping bag.
9. Shells
10. Take out 1 shell at a time. If using mushrooms add a couple to shell 1st sprinkle w/ a lil shredded provolone then pipe in the cheeses as follows. If not using mushrooms just start filling shells bout 1/2 way w/ meat cheese then fill the rest of the way w/ plain cheese and put in single layer in baking pan
11. After filling all the shells cover w/ tin foil and bake at 350F 'til pasta is soft sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the entire pan full and return to oven to melt cheese only few mins to melt cheese
12. Manicotti
13. Pour sauce into baking dish/ casserole dish
14. Alternate tubes of cheeses to fill the manicotti and lay them in baking pan
15. Cover w/ tin foil Bake at 350F until pasta is soft
16. Cover entire casserole w/ mozzarella cheese and return to oven to melt cheese only few mins to melt cheese
17. If using mushrooms sprinkle on top of mozzarella then sprinkle on some shredded provolone cheese

I didn't have my family's recipe for this so poked around on pinterest to find basics and then tweaked it to our families likes :)