Comfort Food Saturday: Stuffed Shells

A couple of weeks ago, I read this post over at Eat At Home (a great food blog that you should check out if you haven't already!).  I was inspired to try my own version of sausage and spinach stuffed shells.  The result was fantastic and made enough to feed me and two friends.  I served them with a big green salad, dressed with a homemade dressing which complemented the shells quite nicely. Heck, I'll give you the recipe for that, too!  I made these shells yesterday morning, then put them in the fridge until dinner time, when I baked them in the oven for about 25 minutes before serving.  A great make-ahead meal for busy weeknights.  You could easily omit the sausage or use ground beef instead.  You can use any kind of pasta sauce, as well. I had some marinara leftover from a batch I made last week, so I used that.

STUFFED SHELLS

• 1 box jumbo shell pasta
• 1 pound bulk Italian Sausage
• 2 cups pasta sauce
• 1 1/2 cup baby spinach leaves, chopped
• 1-15 oz. container ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, divided
• 2 eggs, beaten

Boil pasta according to pacakge directions, about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, brown sausage and drain.  In large bowl, mix eggs, ricotta, 1 cup of mozzarella, spinach and sausage until well-blended.  Stuff each shell with about 1 tablespoon of mixture and place in shallow baking pan.  Top with  pasta sauce and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.  Bake at 350 25-30 minutes or until heated through.

HEY, Y'ALL EASY SALAD DRESSING

• 1 cup garlic-infused olive oil
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• dash of Mrs. Dash Italian seasoning blend

Whisk ingredients together and pour over crisp salad.

Comments

[J]

These look really good, Jen!

[Elisa]

Hey girl! Aw, my gransma used to make stuffed shells! YUmminess :-P

[medical consultation]

I have never tried that kind of shell yet.. I wanna try that..

[Andrea]

Oh, man, I want these right now. Is that bad ... ya think? Yum.