Q: What cheese is made backwards?

A: Edam

What cheese makes these Manicotti so cheesy? Lots of ricotta, mozzarella, provolone and Parmesan. A real cheese lover’s dream. There is a bit of spinach in there to make the dish healthy. :)

Seriously, this is a very yummy pasta dish and super easy, to boot. Always important.

Cheesy Manicotti

Ingredients:

1 (8-ounce) package manicotti
15 ounces ricotta cheese
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 cup shredded provolone cheese
½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1 (25-ounce) jar tomato and basil pasta sauce, or your favorite

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 13×9-inch baking dish.

2. Cook manicotti according to package directions; drain and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, stir together ricotta, spinach, 1½ cups mozzarella cheese, and next 5 ingredients.

4. Spoon cheese mixture into manicotti. (I am basically an impatient person and anyone who knows me would say that is an understatement. So, I always make a slit down the manicotti, fill it and put it cut side down in the pan. Spooning filling into that little tube opening is too much drama for me.)

5. Pour half of pasta sauce into prepared pan. Place stuffed manicotti over sauce. Pour remaining sauce over manicotti. Sprinkle with remaining 1½ cups mozzarella cheese.

6. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Serves 6

Recipe from Cooking With Paula Deen Magazine



And now for the cheesy music.

I’ve done this before in this post and this post. It is a great way for me to procrastinate from my real life duties. Looking for the cheesy classics is such fun.

We’ll start with Cherry Pie. Oh my.

“Dirty, rotten, filthy, stinkin…

She’s my cherry pie
Cool drink of water such a sweet surprise
Tastes so good makes a grown man cry
Sweet Cherry Pie

Swingin’ on the front porch
Swingin’ on the lawn
Swingin’ where we want

…She wanted me to feed her
So I mixed up the batter
And she licked the beater”

Oh the cheese in this next video…and mannequins and bad hair and tambourines. Andrew McCarthy, I am so glad you went on to be a successful travel writer. Well done.

You’ve got to love this YouTube comment:

“Going to use this song for my dance at my 2014 wedding.. The words are perfect!! My ladies gonna love it!!”

Good luck with that.

Hey, remember this one? That song just might have put Baby in the corner.

And don’t forget this.

The 80s could keep me here all day. How about some earlier tunes?

“Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast” was all over the airwaves when I was in 2nd grade, circa 1972. I thought it was the most amazing song. Sniff.

And finally, another song from my childhood. I actually owned this album. Makes me want to do a cheesy little dance right now.

Thanks for indulging me in that vat of cheese. Any others to add to the list?

Cheers!