Tips From A Mom of 3: Manicotti Cordon Bleu Recipe!

I first want to mention that I am not a "cook." Seriously, when it comes to cooking at my house, it's all about quick, easy, simple meals that my family enjoys eating, and, well they are very picky- so sometimes, I have to get creative! This meal is easy, inexpensive, and everyone in my family liked it! (This recipe was adapted from a recipe found in a Kroger mailer.)

Manicotti cordon bleu

Ingredients
12 Manicotti pasta shells, uncooked ($2.27 reg. price at Kroger)
12 slices of lunch meat Ham ($.67- I used Healthy one's honey ham at Meijer after $.55 MQ from 1/3 SS insert)
1 Jar of Pasta Sauce ($.30-Ragu at Meijer awhile ago, or get it for $.75 at Meijer this week)
1-2 pkg. of cheese ($1 - Kraft cheese on sale this week at Kroger) We used shredded mozzarella cheese because it's what we had. You could also use string cheese, or if you have block cheese & cut it, or whatever works best for you.
3/4 cup water

Easy Directions

Place cheese on a slice of ham and roll up. Slide rolled ham into a pasta shell. Continue until all of the pasta shells are stuffed.

Combine the Pasta sauce & water; mix well. Spread 3/4 cup of sauce mixture over the bottom of a 13X9-inch baking dish. Arrange filled manicotti shells in the dish; spread remaining sauce mixture evenly over the shells.

Cover with foil; bake in preheated 350 degrees oven for 40 - 50 minutes or until pasta is tender.
Top with mozzarella or Parmesan cheese. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Prep time: about 15 minutes
Bake time: 50 minutes
Makes: 4 servings, however this meal fed my family of 5 & we had leftovers for lunch the next day.
Total cost: $4.24 (this cost is based on what I paid after sale/coupons)

A side salad & bread stick compliments this meal well. The salad I got Free after coupon a few week ago at Meijer & it needed to be used, you can also get it for $.88 this week at Meijer and the bread sticks are on sale this week at Kroger for only $1.

So for a total of $5.24 my family had a yummy dinner!