Meaty Manicotti

Today's dish is a mix of everything Italian that I love, but doesn't take quite as long as lasagne and makes more than enough to feed my family with leftovers. Keep in mind that I feed a family of five and this is a pretty large quantity. It can easily be halved for smaller families. Nummy, nummy manicotti, oh how you make my tastebuds sing...

Meaty Manicotti

1 package large shells or manicotti tubes
1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded or 12 deli slices
fresh basil, to taste

Filling
8 oz cream cheese, softened
16 oz low-fat, small curd cottage cheese
8 oz ricotta cheese (or you could do 16 oz ricotta and 8 oz cottage, whatevs)
10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained (squeeze the excess moisture out)
1 egg
3/4 cup mozzarella, shredded
3-5 T fresh parsley (however you like it)
1/2 to 1 T fresh oregano

Sauce
1 lb ground pork or pork sausage
2 lb ground beef
1 (or 2 if you <3 them) can mushroom pieces and stems, drained
2 T Italian seasoning
Medium onion or 1-2 T onion powder
1 T minced garlic
2 jars of tomato sauce (traditional, onion & herb, and mushroom seem to be the best)

1. Cook manicotti according to package directions. Drain and let cool on a piece of wax paper sprayed with vegetable oil.
2. Meanwhile start sauce. Brown pork, beef, and onion in a medium saucepan. Drain and wipe excess grease out of pan with a paper towel. Add garlic, mushrooms, and seasonings to meat and saute' for a few minutes. Add tomato sauce and let simmer while you prepare the filling and noodles so the flavors can meld.
3. For the filling, mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.
4. To prepare, spray two 9x13 baking dishes with some sort of vegetable oil. Ladle 1/4 cup of sauce into the bottom of the baking dishes. Fill each shell with 1-1/2 tablespoons of cheese mixture. If using tubes, put cheese mixture in a gallon size freezer bag and cut off a little portion of the corner like a pastry bag. Then you can just squeeze the mixture inside. Arrange the shells (or tubes) in the baking dishes.
5. Cover each baking dish with half the remaining sauce.
6. Top with remaining mozzarella cheese.
7. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes.