Stuffed Pasta Shells

I had lots of spinach so was wondering what to do with it. And so one meal I made with it was stuffed pasta shells.

1 lb fresh spinach cooked, drained and squeezed or a 10 ounce package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 cups ricotta - I used low-fat skim-milk ricotta
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 pound mozzarella, finely chopped or shredded
2 tbsp. chopped fresh basil or 2 tsp. dried, crumbled
1 large garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper to taste

3 to 4 cups tomato sauce or marina sauce - I made a homemade tomato sauce and then added browned ground spicy Italian sausage to it. I covered the bottom of pan with just tomato sauce first though before adding meat.
1 box cooked jumbo pasta shells (about 32 to 36 shells)

If using frozen spinach, thaw and squeeze to get as much water out as you can. If using fresh, cook, covered, for 2-3 minutes in 1/4 cup boiling water; drain and squeeze to get out as much water possible.

Transfer spinach to large bowl. Add ricotta, parmesan, mozzarella, basil and garlic to bowl. Season mixture with salt and pepper; blend.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Spoon 1/2 cup tomato sauce evenly over bottom of 9"x13" baking dish (or 2 9x9). Fill each pasta shell with spinach mixture. Place shells - filling side up in pan. Spoon remaining sauce over shells. I usually sprinkle with some more Parmesan cheese but forgot this time. Cover loosely with foil and bake until heated through, about 30 minutes. Serve.

You can also freeze this after you spoon remaining sauce over shells. It freezes for up to 4 months. And you can take straight from the freezer to the oven just cooking it for about 2 hours. Or thaw in fridge and then bake 1 to 1 ½ hours.


PDF Downloadable - Printable Recipe

Chicken...in a Rut...

I took some boneless chicken breasts out and thought what will I make with these. You know I get stuck in that rut of doing the same things with them always. All day I rolled several ideas around but nothing really sounded like "yes that is it!"

So right before really needing to start dinner, I looked into the fridge and saw I had sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, basil, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, thin sliced ham so I took all those things chopped and mixed together. I pounded the chicken breasts and then spread it with the mixture and rolled them up. I then coated it a whole wheat bread crumbs.

Here is how they turned out....




They had amazing flavor. And looked really beautiful on the plate. It is something I would cook for a dinner party.

Calzones

I made calzones tonight for dinner...
A whole wheat crust stuffed with ricotta cheese, roasted chopped peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, ground sweet Italian turkey sausage, mozzarella cheese. Topped with some tomato sauce.


Oh yes...I have a bread machine and I love it and use it often. This recipe I use the bread machine on the dough setting.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast

Place all ingredients in the bread machine in order used by machine. Run on dough cycle.

Calzones

When done, divide dough into 4/6 balls depending how big of calzones you want to make. All to rise for 10 to 20 minutes. Roll out dough balls on a lightly floured surface to 6 to 9 inch circles (depending on the size you want for your calzones).

Layer your favorite pizza ingredients on half of each dough round. Fold dough over filling and pinch edges of dough firmly together to seal. Move dough to baking sheets and pierce in several places. Bake calzones 15 at 350 degrees and then turn and bake another 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown.

For the above calzones I used roasted mixed peppers, sundried tomatoes, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and browned ground Italian turkey sausage. Topping each calzone with tomato sauce after they are baked.