Baked Manicotti

Tonight I made another recipe from America's Test Kitchen, and had better luck with their recipe for Baked Manicotti. I followed the recipe exactly as posted here, except that I made one of their suggested variations listed in their "Behind the Scenes Cookbook" in which you saute 1 lb italian sausage (I used sweet italian sausage), crumble it while cooking, then add the garlic and red pepper flakes and continue as directed. The sauce tasted good. The manicotti were decent. I liked the method of rolling up lasagna noodles rather than trying to stuff manicotti shells. I did not love the cheese filling but I do not really love any ricotta cheese. I would like to make this again and somehow omit the ricotta cheese (maybe substitute cottage cheese) and use less filling altogether. But at least this recipe was edible, compared with last night.