Stuffed Italian Shells

I made my favorite supper tonight.  After Nathan took his first bite he said, "You have got to blog this..." I never thought about blogging food, but why not?!?

Disclaimer: There is absolutely nothing healthy about this meal, but it is SOOOOO delicious.  So here is my attempt at blogging food... this may be difficult since I don't use recipes. Gulp.

Grocery List:

• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1/2 lb sausage (I used what I had: Jimmy Dean "Maple")
• 1 box jumbo shells
• 1 lg container Ricotta
• 1 small container softened cream cheese
• 1 egg
• Mozzarella cheese
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce (I use Ragu "Mama's Garden Special")

First, boil your noodles.  I boil mine with olive oil and salt in the water. The box states to boil for 10 minutes; I boil for 15-18 minutes... or until they are soft.  Preheat the oven to 375*.

 

   

While your noodles are boiling, combine your hamburger and sausage then brown.  I added a couple TBSP of basil, a dash of garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Drain off any extra grease.  Next, add your ricotta and cream cheese to the meat mixture.  Mix well.  Once it is cooled, add in the egg and mix. Set aside.

   

Then you want to add about 1/2 of the jar of sauce to the bottom of your 9x13 pan. This makes it so the noodles do not want to stick to the bottom.

  

Once the noodles are finished, drain and rinse with cool water.  Take a cookie scoop and fill the jumbo shell with 1-2 scoops of meat/cheese filling.

  

Put a little sauce on top and then cover with mozzarella cheese.  Put in the oven and bake until bubbly and brown (20-25 minutes).

  

  

Remove and serve steaming hot.  We ate ours with a side salad. Yummy!  This made more than a 9x13 could hold, so I put the extra in a pan and will freeze it for later.

Enjoy!

On a side note... I had a very busy weekend.  I had a continuing education course in Manhattan Friday-Saturday. It was fun to be back at my old stomping grounds and to be surrounded by such a great group of Speech Pathologists and SLP Students.  I am now certified in Lee Silverman Voice Treatment for Parkinson's patients (+).  Can't wait to help my first patient!

Don't worry. I haven't forgotten about the "Big News". (No, I am not pregnant).  But I just want all my ducks in a row before I let ya'll in on the secret.  

Hope you all had a great Monday.

....Morgan...