Stuffed Shells

I read an article in the November issue of Martha Stewart Living about stuffed shells. The author put her recipe in the issue - and also gave some great tips. Since I was at the doctor's office - I couldn't bring her recipe home with me - but I did bring her tips home (in my head) and I'm here to share them with you!!

Her tips were: Fill them with anything and everything your family loves. Always cook a double batch of shells b/c they freeze extremely well and so does whatever you stuff them with. She said in particular that cheese freezes very well (something I'd never thought about).

S0 - on my way home, I dropped by the store and grabbed some jumbo shells and some ricotta and made these babies...
Stuffed Shells
12 oz box of Jumbo Shells
16 oz Ricotta cheese
8 oz Mozzerella cheese either shredded or diced into small cubes
1/2 c Parmesan, shredded
2 T parsley
salt and pepper
Fav pasta sauce

Cook pasta per directions on box. Meanwhile, add all other ingredients and mix until combined. *I looked up a few recipes for stuffed shells and all of them included 1 or 2 eggs used as a binder - I chose to omit eggs b/c my kids have egg allergies and we didn't miss it one bit!*

PAM a casserole dish (size depends on how many you are serving - I guesstimated 3 shells per child and 6 per adult) After the shells are cooked, stuff them with a big spoonful of cheese mixture and set them in the casserole dish. Cover with your favorite pasta sauce (marinara is traditional - but I promised my 5 year old that next time I'd make them with alfredo). Sprinkle with more parm and more parsley.

Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until sauce is nice and bubbly.

**You can really go crazy with the 'stuffing' you can use any cheese you like - next time I think I'll try Fontina in lieu of Mozzerella just to kick it up a bit. You can also add any meat, onions, leeks, what have you!!