Stuffed Pasta Shells

This recipe is a favorite of the Hubs. This is about as close to a casserole as he likes to get. In other words, minimal noodles, heavy on the meat!

(And trust me, I KNOW this is a horrible picture. I REALLY need to work on my food photography!)

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs ground beef
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Italian (or mozzarella) cheese
1 beaten egg
1 pkg frozen spinach (thawed, cooked, and thoroughly drained)
1/2 box jumbo pasta shells
1 jar marinara or pasta sauce

Directions:
1. Cook pasta shells to al dente.
2. While that’s cooking, brown the beef and season with salt and pepper. Add garlic.
3. Add in both cheeses. Mix until melted and well blended.
4. Add beaten egg and spinach and simmer for 2 more minutes. Make sure that you are just adding the egg as a binder, not making scrambled eggs in your pan!
5. Preheat oven to 350
6. Fill shells with meat mixture and place in an oven safe dish. Cover with sauce.
7. Bake for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with a little extra Italian cheese and serve immediately.

*For anyone that’s curious, this is actually the recipe that slowly morphed into my Spinach Lasagna Roll Ups over time! I decided the lasagna noodle was easier to roll than a shell was to stuff, then added some yummy ricotta, then ditched the ground beef….well…you see where I’m going with this! Feel free to check out my Spinach Lasagna Roll Up page for that recipe too! They’re both delicious, just think of it as a ‘his and hers’ variation!