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

Easy Italian Stew

It is getting cold and fall is here so soups and stews sound delicious. Sometimes I just want something easy not a lot of chopping and prep time and this recipe is just the answer. It has great flavor.

Browned and crumbled 2 Mild Italian Sausages (if you want it more meaty add more sausage but there is so many good things in this I didn't need more then 2 sausages)
1 can (14-15 oz)chicken broth
1 can (15 oz) white beans - drained and rinsed
1 can (14-15 oz)diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 package of stir fry peppers and onions
1/2 package of frozen green beans
basil to taste
1 cup cooked elbow noodles

I threw everything except the elbow noodles into the crock and cooked on low for 6 hours. The last 5 minutes I added the cooked elbow noodles and then served in bowls with some grated Parmesan cheese on top.

This could easily be done on the stovetop too but I love my crockpot.

Quick and Easy Dinner Recipes

Okay sometimes I need quick and easy. And yes sauteing or grilling some chicken breasts and steaming so veggies are quick and easy but there is just so many times you can do that with the grilled chicken no matter how many times you change the herbs and marinades. So I looked at Kraftfoods.com knowing they would have quick and easy and I found a few recipes. But they weren't perfect for me so I changed them - as always.

So this past week I made each of these. And Michael and I both really enjoyed them! And they were SO easy and quick!

Here are the recipes modified:
Sloppy Joe Skillet
1 pkg. (6 oz.) Cornbread Stuffing Mix or homemade cornbread stuffing
1 cup hot water
1 lb. ground turkey (lean ground beef would work too - I just us ground turkey always instead of ground beef)
1 large red pepper, chopped
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 can (14 oz.) chopped tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup ketchup
a couple splashes of Worcestershire sauce
pepper to taste

Mix stuffing mix and hot water just until moistened; set aside. Meanwhile, brown meat in large skillet; drain.

Add peppers, onions, tomatoes with their liquid, ketchup, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce and pepper to skillet. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover. Simmer 5 min. or until peppers are crisp-tender.

Top with prepared stuffing. Cover; simmer 3 min.

It sounded really gross to me but we both really liked it. Served it with some steamed veggies.

Here is a picture...of Sloppy Joe Skillet
I realized as I was scooping the leftovers out of the skillet to put it away that I should take a picture...so nothing special...but just to get a look...



Cheesy Chicken Noodle Skillet
4 cups egg noodles, uncooked
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
2 cups frozen vegetable (I used peas and carrots but others would do well too)
1/2 cup fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
6 oz. (3/4 of 8-oz. pkg.) (low-fat) Cream Cheese, cubed
1/3 cup (light) Mayo
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/2 cup cheese - used mix of mozzarella and cheddar
pepper to taste

Bring large saucepan of water to boil on high heat. Add noodles and chicken. Cook 8 min. or until chicken is cooked through and noodles are tender, adding frozen veggies to saucepan after 6 min. Drain noodle mixture; return to saucepan.

Add broth, cream cheese, dijon and mayo. Heat just to simmer on medium-low heat. Simmer 2 to 3 min. or until cream cheese is melted and sauce is well blended, stirring constantly. Add shredded cheese; stir 1 min. or until melted.

Chicken Pasta Salad

I made chicken pasta salad last week. It has chicken that I grilled with lemon pepper, red wine vinegar and olive oil marinade. I chopped that up. And then added cooked whole wheat rotini pasta, chopped fresh tomatoes, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, chopped roasted yellow, green and red peppers, grated mozzarella cheese and then all of it was tossed with a little bit of fat free half and half, basil,and Italian dressing.