The recipe that keeps me up at night...

So, of course, a large part of writing my cookbook has been writing recipes and every time I think that I have just the mix of recipes that I want to test and then use, something new pops into my head. Well, today I am testing the recipe that has been keeping me up for the past three nights.

It all started when Jim and I were eating dinner on Sunday...manicotti...one of my favorites and a standard that I make in huge batches and store in my freezer...why not include that in my cookbook you ask? It is not my recipe. It started me thinking though...how could I change this recipe to make it mine? The answer came to me in the middle of the night on Sunday...make it shells, and instead of filling it with traditional filling, use roasted red peppers and goat cheese and somehow incorporate pesto! Seriously, how could it go wrong? (I will update you after Jim and I try it tonight--and although that appears to be a rhetorical question, it is actually a dangerous thought because as anyone who cooks knows, a good idea does not necessarily make a good meal).

At this point most non-neurotic, non-type A personalities would write down the idea and go back to bed, but unfortunately, I am crazy. So for three nights I laid in bed and thought about this recipe. I tried to imagine how it would taste, I thought about how many eggs I should include and what ricotta to goat cheese ratio would produce the perfect creamy texture.

I completely obsessed.

Finally today the day came where I had the time to both go to the store and test the recipe. While the kids were in bed this afternoon I put the filling together (decided on two eggs for other neurotic types who would wonder why I would leave that question out there and loose three nights of sleep themselves wondering about it), cooked the shells, filled them, covered them in a delish sauce, and put them in the refridge to cook in just a few hours. I cannot wait!

As I mentioned before I will post an update later tonight about how the meal went, in the meantime, I have thought about this so much I can honestly taste it and it is amazing! I hope it lives up to the fantasy...