Monday, June 23, 2008

Strong to the Finich

As the price of groceries in on the rise and our lovely town council has decided to add a city sales tax, I've been looking for a way to reduce our grocery cost by cutting down on the amount of meat we buy. I have a vegetarian cookbook but most of the recipes are not appealing to my family's taste buds.

This recipe is one I never would have tried by my own choice; I'm not a fan of cooked spinach. But when a friend served these to me and my kids last week they were a hit all around the table. I've got a batch in the oven as I type and put one in the freezer for another day.

Spinach Stuffed Shells

1 pkg (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 container (16 oz) fat free cottage cheese
1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese, divided
1 egg white
1 medium red pepper, chopped
1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix (like Good Seasons)
20 jumbo macaroni shells, cooked and drained
1 jar spaghetti sauce

Mix spinach, cottage cheese, 1/.2 cup Mozzarella, egg white, red pepper and salad dressing mix in a large bowl until well blended. Fill each shell with 1 heaping tablespoon cheese mix.

Spoon 1/2 of the sauce into a 9 x 13 baking dish. Arrange shells in dish and spoon remaining sauce over shells. Sprinkle with remaining Mozzarella. Cover with foil.

Bake covered at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes. If you freeze it, let it thaw completely before baking.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds delish.

Incidentally, some DIY recipes for spice mixes and soup packets can be found online (Google works for me). It's much cheaper than the mixes, takes something off the shopping list, and helps you control the sodium or make any other tweaks to suit your own taste buds. I figured this out one day when I was ready to make tacos but did not have a seasoning packet.

Monica said...

Great recipe!

Did you know that you can put the mixture into an uncooked shell and freeze it. Just place the shells in a dish, cover with the sauce overnight and they soften up. Then bake as you would otherwise.