I've been making this recipe for years. It uses cream cheese instead of the usual ricotta. It is delicious. It's my go-to recipe when I go to gatherings or to take to someone who is ill or just had a baby. ( I just leave the instructions on how to bake it and pack along some garlic bread and salad). The original recipe uses 3 pounds of meat and makes a lot of shells. I cut it down to be enough for our family. But, you can double or triple it for large get-togethers.
Total Time: 45 minutes to make the shells, 1 hour to bake.
Yield: About 17 or 18 shells
Source: Food Network recipe "Northern Italian Pasta Shell Stuffing"
Link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/northern-italian-pasta-shell-stuffing-recipe.html
Ingredients:
Steps:
Cook pasta shells according to package directions. Drain shells; rinse with cold water and drain well. Set shells aside.
Great tasty Italian dish! Serve it with a salad and garlic bread!
Brown hamburger, onions, and spaghetti mix. Mix in cottage cheese and beans. Boil macaroni and rinse in cold water. Stuff shells and arrange in baking dish and pour spaghetti sauce over all.
My daughter loves stuffed shells, so we decided to make our own. We also made our sauce.
Stuffed pasta shells are a warm, hearty meal that is great for the winter.
This is just about our very favorite low calorie dish. I have modified it a bit from one I got from Healthy Choice cookbook.