Cannelloni with Spinach and Ricotta

As a start to my Adventures in Cookingland, I decided that I should start with something that wouldn't be too time consuming or difficult. Seeing as it is now just after midnight I may have done some minor miscalculations! While looking through my various cookbooks trying to decide what to make, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to create something from my Perfect Italian book. It came to me as a random $5 purchase at Joann Fabrics along with Chicken... Made Simple (which also has a great many fantastic recipes).
Now to get back to my marathon of a meal! In hindsight, I should have done my grocery shopping ahead of time since that would have drastically cut down on the time factor. Regardless, I found myself at my local Pick N Save at about 7 this evening picking out my various ingredients, most of which I did not have at my apartment. I had to do some improvising since they lacked the two specialty cheeses I needed (asiago instead of pecorino and fontina in place of gruyere).
The most exciting part of the prep work for me was being able to make great use of my mini food processor, which hadn't got a lot of usage until now. It made the cannelloni filling super easy to blend and I'm so excited to use it from here on out (thanks Mom and Dad for the awesome gift)! Everything seemed to be going well, although incredibly time consuming since I wasn't familiar with the recipe. The cheese sauce to cover everything caused me the first bit of concern. It required me to melt butter and add flour to it, which when I did so resembled the consistency of scrambled eggs. Then I was to add slightly boiled milk to it and simmer until thick and smooth... It never entirely became smooth! So I just ignored and proceeded!
Covered the stuffed cannelloni with my slightly lumpy cheese sauce and popped it in the over as instructed. 25 minutes later, it did not look like the picture in the book and appeared to need more quality time with the oven! Another 15 minutes later I felt better about it, but it was still lacking the slightly burnt, crispy top. So I decided to use my much under utilized broiler! Result? Delicious perfection! First recipe, done!