Stuffed Shells

My kids got several cook books from their grandparents for Christmas. We've been looking through them to decide what to make. We picked Stuffed Shells out of this cookbook!



It's a great book. VERY kid friendly, it has pictures of the tools and the ingredients so even if a child can't read yet, they can still help out and do various things. I really love it!!! My 7 year old picked the stuffed shells that Ms. Paula does so we made those. I added a few things extra but otherwise it was a basic stuffed shells recipe. Both of my boys were able to help make dinner and it wonderful!

Stuffed Shells
20 large shell noodles
1 pound ricotta cheese
1C grated parm cheese (I used the Italian shredded cheese blend)
1 1/2 C shredded carrots
1C shredded fresh spinach (can use frozen, make sure you thaw and drain it well)
1 large can favorite spaghetti sauce
2C grated mozz. cheese

Cook pasta adding salt to the boiling water. Cook for about 5-7 minutes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl combine ricotta and parm cheese, stirring well to mix. Add carrots and spinach (these were my additions-we needed a little more veggie in it).
Spray a 8.5X11 pan with cooking spray. Place a large spoonful of sauce on bottom of pan and spread out.
Once the shells have drained fill with the cheese mixture and place in prepared pan. If you have any of the cheese mixture left, spread it over the top of the shells. Top with rest of sauce and mozz. cheese.

Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes or until heated through.

Please excuse the fact that it's half eaten, I realized I hadn't taken a picture at this point and ran and grabbed my camera.

This was a BIG, HUGE hit!!! Even though it had the veggies in it, everyone cleaned their plates! I think it helped that the boys got to help make it. They were anxious to eat what they had made. For the adults I added a spinach salad (I HIGHLY recommend the Mediterranian Salad mix by dole).

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!!!!