Stuffed Shells

[Printable Recipe]

I love me some stuffed shells, but I have never made them myself. I have bought the frozen kind, and I will occasionally get them out at a restaurant, but when Amanda at Tales of a Horvath Housewife posted her recipe I decided I needed to try it.
I combined her recipe, the recipe on the back of the shell box and some of my own ideas to create this dinner.
Ingredients:
Jumbo pasts shells
2 cups broccoli florets
15 oz part skim ricotta cheese
3/4 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
half a jar or so-  pasta sauce
Parmesan cheese
Italian seasoning
Garlic powder
Turkey pepperoni
Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees
Boil jumbo shells for about 10 mins (according to the packaging)

Drain and rinse with cool water.
While boiling pasta, steam broccoli in the microwave (or stove top if you wish)
Roughly chop the broccoli. (I also added some minced garlic and a little butter after the broccoli was steamed)
Chop pepperoni

In a bowl, stir together ricotta and 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese. Season with garlic and Italian seasoning.

Add broccoli and pepperoni to cheese mixture. ( I actually made some with out pepperoni because I wasn’t sure how it would taste. I should have used more pepperoni because it didn’t really change the taste too much but I think it could be really good)



Spoon cheese into the shells.

Place in a baking dish and top with pasta sauce.

Sprinkle top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Bake uncovered for 15 minutes.

These were very good. I would make them again, I would add more pepperoni to the cheese, and season it a little more. I like that you get a veggie in the meal, without really tasting it. I ate broccoli with my shells, but I slept better that night knowing that Matt had some green veggies for dinner :-D (not really but I always wish he would eat more veggies, I should too for that matter)
Also, I always print out my recipes, they eventually make it into my binder. Usually I put them immediately in plastic, but I didn’t this time, and good thing. I let it get a little close to the flame of the gas stove. Now my recipe has a little character. 


*** I know I haven’t posted many baked goodies lately. I haven’t really been baking much, I can’t bake without a reason right now or else I would gain 50 lbs. (this is the downfall to not working at the daycare anymore-no coworkers to share with) I have family dinner coming up soon, which always means I will try a new dessert recipe. I hope you enjoy some of the meals I have been making.