Baked Manicotti With Meat Sauce

Wow, 6 months huh? I'm a slacker! And to be honest, I haven't really been trying a lot of new recipes. But I have just gone through all my cooking magazines and I have pulled out the recipes that I want to try and so my goal is to try a new recipe a week. Probably won't happen that smoothly, but it is worth trying! So for the first one, from Cooks Country, 2009 {I have been holding onto these for a LONG time!}

This is the picture from the magazine, looks yummy huh?
Meat Sauce: I will put this up there, but I actually just used some of my homemade spaghetti sauce and it was great with that. But here is their recipe:

1 onion
6 oz sliced deli pepperoni
1 lb lean ground beef or turkey
1 tablespoon tomato paste
5 garlic cloves minced {precut ones fine}
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 cans crushed tomatoes

pulse onion and pepperoni in food processor until coarsely ground, add beef. Cook over medium heat until no longer pink. add tomato paste, garlic and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant about 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and simmer until sauce is slightly thickened, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Manicotti:
3 cups ricotta cheese
2 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 cup shredded provolone
1 large egg-beaten
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped basil
16 no boil lasagna noodles

I wanted to keep it as simple as I can, so like I said before, it worked great with my own sauce. Unless you are feeling ambitious, I would just use your favorite marinara or spaghetti sauce and add some ground turkey or something. The rest of it is so simple!
Combine ricotta, 2 cups mozzarella, 1 cup provolone, egg, salt, pepper, and basil in a bowl. Pour 2 quarts boiling water into a 9x13 pan, soak noodles until pliable, about 5 minutes. Drain noodles on a towel, pour off water and dry baking dish.

Spread half the meat sauce on the bottom of the dish, then top each of the soft noodles with 1/4 cup cheese filling, roll it up into a nice "manicotti" looking roll, then place seam-side down over sauce. Spread remaining sauce over the top, cover with foil and bake at 375 for about 40 minutes. Remove foil and add remaining mozzarella and provolone. Bake until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes then serve.