Turkey Manicotti

Turkey Manicotti from Taste of Home Magazine
1/4 cup bulgur
2/3 cup boiling water
3/4 lb lean ground turkey
1-1/2 cups (12 oz) 2% cottage cheese
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
14 uncooked manicotti shells
1 jar (28 oz) meatless spaghetti sauce
1 cup (4 oz) part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions:  Preheat 350 degrees.  Place the bulgur in a large bowl; stir in boiling water.  Cover and let stand for 30 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.  Drain and squeeze dry.

In a nonstick skillet, cook turkey over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.  Add the cottage cheese, basil oregano, salt, pepper and bulgur.  Stuff into uncooked manicotti shells.  Arrange in a 13x9 inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Combine spaghetti sauce and water; pour over shells.  Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until shells are tender and sauce is bubbly.  Uncover; sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.  Bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Here's what I started with:

Here's how I did it:

#1 I boiled 2/3 cups of water.

#2 I measured out 1/4 cup of bulgur.  I added the boiling water to the bulgur, stirred it and then covered it.

#3 I preheated the oven to 350 degrees and put the ground turkey in a frying pan and browned the turkey.

#4 After the turkey was browned, I added the sour cream, the basil and oregano.

#5 I strained/drained the bulgur of water and added it to the turkey.

#6 I filled the uncooked manicotti with the turkey mixture and lined them in a 9x13 baking dish.

#7 I spread spaghetti sauce over the noodles and covered it with tin foil. 

#8 It went in the oven for about an hour.

#9 I took the tin foil off, spread Italian cheese over it and then let it melt.

The Finished Product:

Review:

I was so excited to cook with bulgur wheat.  I don't think I have ever even tasted it.  I found it really easy to cook and it tasted good, too.

The meat mixture was actually better by itself than it was in the noodles with the sauce and cheese.  Scott and I agreed that the turkey/cottage cheese/bulgur combination would be great as a breakfast food, either by itself or maybe mixed in with some scrambled eggs.  In fact, we liked it so much that I saved the leftover meat for breakfast in the morning!

Another added bonus is that this dish was pretty healthy.  I couldn't find whole wheat noodles at Schnuck's but they are probably available at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods.

Overall, a successful dish.

Hope you enjoy!

April

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****(4 Stars)--This dish was good. There wasn't a whole lot that we would do differently. We will have it again.