Jumbo stuffed shells

Do you, like me, ever wonder what to do with your leftover spaghetti sauce, other than 'have more spaghetti'? Well look no farther! This recipe won my boy's hearts over, and made for excellent lunch leftovers for my husband, so I win 2X!!

Cook up a box of Jumbo Pasta shells (or 1/2 the recipe) till the shells are tender but still firm enough to work with. Cool the shells (I just laid them out on a cookie sheet)

In separate bowl mix 2 cups of ricotta cheese (i just used the whole tub which was 3 Cups and added a little more of everything else) 1 Cup of Parmesan cheese, 2 tbsp fennel, 2 tsp basil, 4 cloves minced garlic, a couple shakes of Italian seasoning and salt and pepper to taste. The recipe also called for 2 packages of frozen chopped spinach, but we didn't have any.



Once mixed, generously stuff each shell and place in casserole dish lined with leftover spaghetti sauce (or marinara) once dish is full, pour spaghetti sauce over top the shells and cover with an extra layer of Parmesan or mozzarella.



Bake loosely covered at 350 for 30 minutes or until it's all warm and bubbly. I served it with salad, and we made a nice candlelight dinner out of it.



I loved this recipe because it was way easy (just took over an hour which is not so nice with kids) and it was SO good. I also had an extra casserole dish full that I sent home for my mom and step dad (or you could freeze it). It was creamy and cheesy but also meaty with lots of veggies in the sauce. Most stuffed shell recipes call for a meat filling, but I liked that the meat was on the outside. Hope you give it a try!