Cooking Thursday - Creamy Chicken Manicotti

Good Morning, hope you had a restful night's sleep and are ready to face the day.

My dear husband just left for work and the kiddos are still asleep.  I'm so tired this morning, was up at 2am with Jasmine, she pulled a neck muscle while sleeping and was having some trouble laying in bed.  Helped her adjust her pillow, massaged her neck a little and gave her some pain medicine and within a few minutes she was back to sleep.  Thank God!

Now, on to today's recipe........

Creamy Chicken Manicotti

8 dried manicotti shells
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole milk
1 6-ounce package Tyson® Grilled & Ready® Refrigerated Chicken Breast Strips, finely chopped
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1-1/4 cups grated Parmesan cheese
1 15-ounce container ricotta cheese
ground nutmeg
fresh parsley


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water; drain and set aside.

For sauce, in a medium saucepan cook onion in hot butter over medium heat 4 minutes or until tender but not brown. Stir in flour and salt. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Sprinkle in some ground nutmeg. Stir well, remove from heat; set aside.

For filling, in a medium bowl combine Grilled & Ready® Chicken Breast Strips,egg yolk, the 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese, parsley, and the ricotta cheese. Pour about 1/2 cup of the sauce into a buttered 2-quart rectangular baking dish; spread in a thin layer over bottom of dish.

Use a pastry tube fitted with the largest tip to pipe the filling into cooked manicotti. (Or carefully spoon about 1/3 cup of filling into each shell.) Arrange filled manicotti in baking dish in a single layer. Pour remaining sauce over manicotti. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese over the sauce.

Bake, uncovered, 20 minutes or until manicotti are light golden and heated through. Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving. If desired, garnish with a sprinkling of ground nutmeg and parsley.