Spinach & Ricotta Stuffed Shells

By far one of my favorite dishes to make at the house! Now I will tell you if you are lactose intolerant, I would recommend either finding a substitute for the cheese (but I am not sure how the taste will come out), or you may, unfortunately, have to skip this one.

The baking and stuffing shells are probably one of the most tedious parts of this meal, but the payout is well worth it, in my opinion. What I found to make it easier was to pre-cook the noodles the morning of, or the evening before, and pre-mix the cheese stuffing mixture. You can then just refrigerate until you are ready to put everything together and bake it!

On to the recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 Basil, dried

4 cloves of Garlic

1 tsp Italian herbs, dried

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 parsley, dried

4 cups spinach (I use frozen and just cook it before mixing it with the cheese, you can use fresh if you'd prefer)

2 large eggs

3 cups marinara sauce (id recommend an extra jar of sauce if you intend to cook a large quantity)

16 Jumbo Pasta Shells

2 cups Parmesan Cheese

1 Cup mozzarella cheese

32 oz ricotta cheese

Instructions:

1. First, Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

2. Place a large saucepan with water over high heat and cook pasta shells to al dente. Drain and set aside.

3. I always saute my garlic in a little olive oil in a saucepan. A couple of minutes till it's fragrant. You can add your fresh spinach and cook it until it cooks down in the pan.

4. In a mixing bowl, stir together the cooked spinach, ricotta, mozzarella, 1 cup parmesan cheese, eggs, onion powder, Italian herbs, parsley, basil, salt, and pepper until thoroughly combined.

5. Pour 1 cup of the marinara sauce into the baking dish and spread evenly.

6. Stuff each pasta shell with a hefty amount of the spinach and cheese mix (normally 1-2 tablespoons is good without over-stuffing the shells where they break)

7. Once the shells are lined up in the pan, cover them with the remaining marinara sauce. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes.

8. once the top starts to bubble/ brown a little around the edges, take the foil off and sprinkle the remaining parmesan cheese on top and bake for another 10 minutes.

9. Serve and Enjoy!

This dish always makes me dinners and lunches for at least 2-3 days as a single person to feed but can easily feed a family of 4-5 for at least lunch/ dinner for a couple of days if served with a Ceaser salad and maybe some breadsticks.

I hope you try this recipe out and leave us some feedback on what you think?! Bon Apetite!

-Victoria G.