July 26, 2010

2 Top Recipes

 My friend, Kerri, asked me for this recipe, so I thought I'd go ahead and pass it along to everyone.  Sorry I have no picture, whenever I make it, we always dig right into it and gobble it all up.  I must brag on my sweet husband...last time we had this he made it all by himself!!

Spinach-Stuffed Jumbo Shells:

  • 1 box frozen chopped spinach
  • 20 jumbo pasta shells (comes out to be about 1/2 box)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups ricotta cheese
  • 2/3 cup parmesan cheese
  • 1 jar spaghetti sauce
  • mozzarella cheese (just enough to sprinkle on top, can also just use more of the parm)
Preheat to 350.  Cook the frozen spinach for 5 minutes and drain well.  Squeeze out all excess moisture.  (I dab with paper towels then scoop the spinach into a ziploc bag, snip the corner of the bag and then squeeze more of the water out.)  Cook the pasta shells as directed on the box (be sure not to overcook).  While the shells are cooking, mix up the stuffing.  Beat 2 eggs and combine with the ricotta cheese and parmesan cheese.  In a 9x13 backing dish, spread a small amount of spaghetti sauce on the bottom. After the shells cook, drain, and then stuff the shells with the spinach stuffing.  Arrange the stuffed shells in the baking dish and then cover with the remainder of the spaghetti sauce.  Top the shells with mozzarella cheese (or parm) and bake for 45 minutes. 

The recipe and the next one are from my Made in the Shade cookbook that I've mentioned before.  Awesome goodness type of recipes. 

I'm making one of Andrew's favorites, Pizza Casserole tonight.  He's loves the other one, but he's obsessed with this one.

Pizza Casserole:
  • 1 lb of ground beef or turkey
  • 1 pkg of taco seasoning (yes, trust me...)
  • 1 can of tomato sauce
  • 1 cup of swiss cheese*
  • 1 cup of american cheese**
  • pepperoni slices
  • 2 cans of crescent rolls 
*I just use 2 cups of mozzarella cheese most of the time.

Preheat to 350.  Brown the ground beef/turkey, drain, then spread in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.  Sprinkle the taco seasoning over the meat.  Let this sit for 5 minutes.  Then top with the can of tomato sauce and 2 cups of cheese (whatever you choose).  Next, layer the pepperoni slices over the cheese, placed so they don't touch.  Then layer the crescent rolls over the top.  (I usually wait til this last step to pull the cans out of the fridge so they don't get too tacky.  I also just keep them in their "sheets" instead of separating the little triangles.)  Bake until the crescent rolls are golden brown.

Mmmmm. I just got excited writing about it.  So good.  Hope you enjoy these as much as we do!!

3 comments:

Lindsey @ Magnolias and Gobbers said...

These sound super yummy. I have a recipe that is similar to the stuff shells. I just put the same stuffing in lasagna noodles & roll them up. Sometimes we add sauteed mushrooms to it!

I am gonna try that pizza casserole next week. It made my tummy grumble reading it.

Thanks for sharing!

Sarah Denley said...

Oh my gosh. These sound SO good. Can't wait to try both. One question: do the pasta shells come where you can "open" them?? Do you cut them with a knife? I feel really stupid!

Alison said...

The pasta shells do come "open" and they'll open up a little more when you cook 'em. Sometimes the jumbo shells are hard to find, and you can use manicotti shells instead.

P.S. when I started making pizza casserole the other night, I realized my pepperonis were bad so we used mushrooms instead and it turned out great! Next time we're going to make it "supreme" haha.