Monday, February 27, 2012

What's for supper? Stuffed shells...now with recipe

We haven't had stuffed pasta shells for a long time, and both ricotta cheese and jarred Alfredo-style pasta sauce were on sale this week, so I picked up some of each with the plan of making a pasta meal.  Pre-made sauce is not usually my first choice, but it was on sale for less than it would have cost to buy the cream and make it from scratch.

Tonight's menu:

Spinach-Stuffed Shells in Alfredo Sauce
Butternut Squash
Last night's leftover salad
Maybe...Garlic Bread Sticks

And dessert leftovers from the weekend.

Spinach-Stuffed Shells

One 340 g box jumbo pasta shells...you won't need all of them
Half a 300 g package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
One 300 g container ricotta cheese (lite is fine)
One good chunk Mozzarella cheese, grated or cut up--amount is up to you
One 420 ml jar store-brand Alfredo sauce, or your own alternative
Marjoram, pepper
Parmesan cheese (optional)

For a casserole that serves four to six people, cook most of the pasta shells (I cooked all of them just to be safe).  Drain and rinse in cold water.

In a food processor, combine the ricotta cheese, spinach, Mozzarella, and seasonings.  If you don't have a food processor, just stir them together.  Stuff each shell with a heaping teaspoonful of the mixture, and arrange them in a large greased casserole.  Keep going until all the stuffing is used up. Cover with store-bought or homemade sauce, put the lid on, and bake at 350 degrees for about forty minutes or until it's all bubbly.  Sprinkle the casserole with Parmesan before serving, if you want.

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