For the past few years, we’ve had a family spaghetti night every Sunday without fail. It was an idea that my wife had come up with as a way to make sure we all sat down at the table and talked, ate, and enjoyed each other’s company. While we try to sit down most nights, this was one night that was not negotiable. The kids were able to talk about what they were looking forward to in the week ahead and we were able to do the same. It’s something that I’m very grateful for as I know this tradition will continue for years to come and hopefully become a tradition in the lives of our children and their families.
While we call it “Family Spaghetti Night” or “Sunday Spaghetti Night”, we mix it up and do a different pasta dish every week. We’ve had everything from traditional spaghetti (Tinkyada Brown Rice Spaghetti is our favorite) to Fettuchini Alfredo to lasagna. No matter what, it’s always good and my kids like to brag and say I make a pretty fantastic sauce — no matter which sauce I make.
This recipe from, Hey, that tastes good! is something that I’m going to attempt next Sunday — it’s a little more involved than what I usually do, but I’m up for the challenge.
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“A while ago I saw a recipe for baked manicotti in Cooks Illustrated. The idea was that instead of trying to stuff slippery manicotti noodles, you soak some lasagna noodles and roll them up with filling. That way you don’t have to struggle with messy filling of slippery noodles, but still have pretty much the same thing. I thought I’d try it, after getting a comment on my Facebook page asking for a manicotti recipe.
It worked out well, except I forgot that gluten free lasagna noodles are so skinny. Ideally I would have rolled these into long tubes, but the noodles are so skinny that would have been more trouble than it was worth. Instead I rolled these up into fat little rolls, so they’re more like rolled up lasagna and less like manicotti. It’s got the same flavors, and idea as manicotti, so this is the best I can do without making my own noodles (a project for another time) or buying gluten free manicotti noodles (do those even exist?)…”
Read the full post & get the recipe »

1 comment
maurizio spina says:
Apr 20, 2011
if you want taste a orinal lasagna al forno and spaghetti with much sauce, call me i’m italian chef specialist in sicilian and mediterranean food. i like so much to cook old italian food with original product, i live in italy but i’m ready to come in some place of the world to cook for you. thanks and many many regards from italy Maurizio Spina