Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Shells

Growing up south of Philly in the good old days of riding bikes, going to a friend's house down the street so you could play, having your Mom yell out for dinner time (because you weren't that far away and could hear her) seems like eons ago.  Depends how old you are as to what age you think is old.  Perhaps the gauge there is anyone 25 years older than you is .... old.  These are memories from 50 years ago. Yeah.



There were neighborhoods with a predominantly Italian population and those just a jiggle northeast with a larger Irish population.  I lived in a neighborhood with many Italian families and can say, I loved it. Most of my friends were from big Italian families and I was absorbed with the lot, always being fed and included in whatever was going on.  So maybe I'm Italian by osmosis ...and it shows in my meal planning at times.

I. Love. Pasta.



These stuffed shells weren't that difficult to prepare but took some time. Worth every minute of it, I attest to that here. I used the jumbo shells so three was a decent serving.




Here is a recipe for 24 shells in case a large batch is needed.  For just the two of us I cut it down by half and it still gave us leftovers. Cheesy and spinach laden - perfect.

Spinach and Cottage Cheese Stuffed Shells

Ingredients

24 jumbo pasta shells
1 15-oz. container cottage cheese

 2 cups shredded Mozzarella

 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan 

1 10-oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry 

1 large egg, lightly beaten 

Salt and pepper 

1 teaspoon oregano 1 teaspoon basil 

Roughly 3 cups homemade sauce or 1 26 oz. jar marinara sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 375ºF. For the full recipe use a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.  Place a bit of sauce in the bottom and spread evenly. Cook pasta shells according to package label directions; drain and set aside to cool. In a large bowl, stir together cottage cheese, 1 cup mozzarella, Parmesan, spinach, egg, salt, pepper, oregano and basil.

Stuff shells with cheese-and-spinach mixture and place in dish. Spoon remaining sauce over shells and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella.  Or you can cut back to your personal taste in the amount of cheese (obviously).

Cover baking dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake about 10 minutes longer, until bubbly and cheese begins to brown.  I screwed up and placed it in the oven without foil at first so, had to bake it longer. Lesson learned about paying attention.

I am sharing this with Beth Fish's Weekend Cooking Series