cheese please

 
If you are at all familiar with the assortment of words I make you read (skim) prior to a fabulous recipe, you may have picked up on that fact that Connor loves comfort food. Things that are baked or roasted and create leftovers. He really has a thing for leftovers. This week, his hopes and dreams came true in the form of cannelloni stuffed with goat ricotta, kale, and smoked apple veggie sausage. 

In our new apartment, the nearest farmer's market is now Trout Lake. I checked it out with Robyn last Saturday and picked up some fresh goat ricotta (goat cheese is low lactose and I find that I can tolerate it to an extent). I have never even seen it before but I was super impressed. I took it home and created THIS:

CANNELLONI STUFFED WITH GOAT RICOTTA, KALE, AND SMOKED APPLE VEGGIE SAUSAGE

1 package of oven-ready cannelloni noodles
1 can (28oz) of crushed tomatoes
1 package of (goat) ricotta
1 bushel of kale leaves (I am saying the word "bushel" but all I mean is kale about the size of the bundles they sell at Whole Foods or at the market), stems removed 
1 veggie sausage, casing off, broken up and briefly sauteed in oil
salt
pepper
dried oregano

Preheat oven to 350 F. 

In a large bowl, mix together your cheese, fresh kale, and browned sausage with a fair sprinkling of salt, pepper, and oregano. Mix well. Use your hands! But only if you have washed them. Which you ought to have done. You are making food, you know.

Pull out the casserole dish and pour in half of the crushed tomatoes to cover the bottom of the dish. Stuff each of the cannelloni noodles with you wicked awesome cheese-kale-sausage mixture and line them all up neatly in the dish. I did two layers. Then pour the rest of the crushed tomatoes on top of the pasta. I suppose you could top with Parmesan cheese at this point if you so desire. Bake with a lid (or tinfoil cover, no judgment) for approximately 50 minutes. If you topped with cheese, uncover at 45 minutes and bake for another 10-15 minutes.

Easy, right?

Image from Google Images.