Baked Shells with Sausage and Spinach Recipe

I made these as a Christmas Day appetizer!

Ingredients

·         1 box jumbo pasta shells

·         1.25 pounds turkey sausage

·         1.5 tablespoon minced garlic (or more)

·         1 (14-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes

·         1 box frozen spinach, thawed and squeeze dry

·         3/4 cup ricotta cheese

·         1/2 cup shredded mozarella cheese

·         salt and freshly ground pepper

·         Italian seasoning (a lot)

Directions

1.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and fill a large bowl with cold water and ice, set aside.

2.      Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta shells and cook according to package directions. Drain well then add to ice water until ready to stuff.

3.      Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add turkey sausage then use a wooden spoon to break up the sausage, cook 5-6 minutes until browned. Put Italian seasoning on the meat while it is cooking.

4.      Add garlic and cook 30 seconds then add tomatoes, spinach and more Italian seasoning; cook 1 minute.

5.      Remove pan from heat and stir in ricotta cheese.

6.      Using a spoon, fill pasta shells with pork filling and arrange in a baking dish (9-inch x 13-inch baking dish works well). Sprinkle tops with shredded cheese then bake in the oven 25-30 minutes until cheese has melted and tips of shells begin to crisp and brown.

Review

These turned out well. They weren’t as exciting as I would have liked them to be but I think you could make them better with more or different seasoning. You could also substitute for Italian sausage because it already has some zip to it. I added Italian seasoning after they had been cooked but it was too little too late. I did like that they are semi-healthy and hot finger food.