Nesting at its finest! I am in love with comfort food with this colder weather coming around, Brodilynn asked for lasagna & Andre LOVES pasta....so WINNER WINNER on this one! All 3 pasta dishes literally took me an hour to the table and freezer AND it was all under $30!! You cant beat this one <3 This meal is amazing for those people doing
21 Day Fix, Core De Force or any other color coded meal plan!! <--- and we ate the whole pan!! lol
Sausage & Spinach Stuffed Shells
I doubled this recipe and put into 3 - 9x9 baking dishes (one glass for supper tonight & 2 foil ones to freeze!)
Ingredients:
1 Package Large Shells (brown rice noodle variety is my favorite) <--- manicotti tubes would also work if you cant find big shells!
1 Lb Italian Sausage (remove from casings if you cant find ground sausage)
1 package (12 oz) frozen chopped spinach (thawed & squeezed)
1 cup Ricotta cheese
1/2 750g tub of Cottage Cheese
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Shredded Mozzarella
1 Tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tsp Italian seasoning
1 Jar Pasta Sauce (no sugar added - organic variety)
1/2 cup Shredded Cheese for topping (I used more mozzarella and a little parmesan)
Directions:
1. Preheat over to 400.
2. Cook the shells according to package directions, drain & let cool.
3. In a large pan, brown sausage. Remove from heat, cool & crumble.
4. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, ricotta, cottage cheese, eggs, mozzarella, garlic powder & spices. Add cooled sausage. Mix together.
5. Add a cup of pasta sauce to the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. (or 3 9x9 dishes if doubling recipe to freeze)
6. Fill your cooked shells with mixture and place filling side up in the baking pan.
7. Top with cheese
8. Cover & Bake for 45 minutes.
FOR FREEZING:
1. In foil dishes, complete to step 7. Cover with foil & label "350 degrees for 2 hours from frozen"
**Color Coded Portion Control Containers**
4 Shells = 1 yellow, 1 blue, 1 red, 1 green