Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Stuffed Shells

We were in the grocery store the other day, and Junior asked if I would make stuffed shells for dinner some night.  I said, sure, even though I had never done it before.  I bought the shells and some cheeses (I was guessing which kinds I would need) and came home to my computer to find a recipe.  After lots of searching, I took different ingredients from several recipes and kind of came up with my own.

My recipe:

16 oz. ricotta cheese
9 oz. package frozen chopped spinach
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp. parsley
mushrooms (canned, diced pretty small)
2 eggs

I mixed all the ingredients together with my mixer on medium.  Most recipes said to mix by hand, but I couldn't get the texture I wanted, so I threw it into my mixer.  I than stuffed the shells I cooked and cooled with the cheese mixture.  I put them in a baking dish with a little sauce underneath so they wouldn't stick to the pan, and some on top, too.  I baked it for 25 minutes at 400 degrees.  (I didn't cover the pans, so they dried out a little...next time I will cover them for the first 20 minutes)
They came out delicious!  I am not a big cooked spinach fan (I love it raw in salads, but the cooked just doesn't do it for me), so I was worried about the taste.  There was no need.  the only complaint my husband had was that the cheese mixture needed something...but he didn't know what.  He said he expected it to taste more like the filling in a cheese wonton, so I am thinking of maybe adding a little cream cheese to the cheese mixture the next time I make this.  What do you think?  Would that work?

10 comments:

Tara Beaulieu said...

MMmmmmmm. I make mine very similar to yours- but the addition of cream cheese sounds so yummy! Cream cheese makes everything better! I made chicken enchiladas last night and cream cheese is a staple in those (not very Mexican, I know but OMG is it good!) So my vote is YES to cream cheese! :)

jenn said...

Tara ~ I've never had chicken enchiladas...they sound yummy.

Tara Beaulieu said...

Jenn- my recipe for them is here:

http://scarborough.blogspot.com/2010/04/creamy-chicken-enchiladas-recipe.html

Last night I made some rice (white rice that I cooked with Sazon (that bright orange spanish seasoning packet you see at the grocery store) and a can of diced tomatoes. I mixed the chicken with the rice and then did the rest of the recipe. Talk about a filling dinner! 2 chicken breasts fed my family of 5 and Ed took two for lunch today and there are still 2 left in my fridge- a cheap meal for a big family! :)

jenn said...

Tara ~ just so I'm following, you put the rice mixture into the tortillas? I bet that was delicious. My gang loves rice.

You are such a creative cook.

Tammy said...

They look very yummy. I always have a hard time when stuffing them. I rip the shells. Maybe I over fill them.

jenn said...

Tammy ~ I didn't break any myself, but a bunch broke during boiling. I still had enough for one meal, a plate for Junior to take to work, and leftovers for lunches. I thought I overstuffed, too, but I had just enough filling.

Tara Beaulieu said...

Hi Jenn, yes. I saw you found the original recipe I had for the chicken part of the filling. I made up the rice really quick in a pot on the stove while I cooked up the chicken/cream cheese mixture. Once they were both done, I combined the two and then spooned it into the tortillas and rolled them up. Stretches the chicken really far, I used 2 boneless breasts of chicken and 1 cup (uncooked) of rice to make it.

You can jazz it up any way you want with peppers, onions, olives, etc. Whatever your family is into or you have on hand!
PS- I have been dreaming of stuffed shells since reading this recipe, just FYI ;)

jenn said...

Tara ~ that sounds pretty simple. I asked the hubs yesterday if he would eat this if I made it, and he said he would, so I think I will put it on my supper menu for next month. (I shop once a month, on the 10th, for the entire month, so I have to plan ahead a bit) I can't wait to make it.

Dawn said...

I think it looks good !! You are such a good mom !! *HUGS*

jenn said...

Thanks Dawn! I try.