Stuffed Shells Florentine
This recipe is pretty classic, pretty easy, but not all that “quick” so it makes a good weekend recipe at my house. If you want to make it on a weeknight, and you’re short on time in the evenings, i’d recommend making the sauce, and stuffing the shells the night before, and then just adding the sauce, cheese, etc for the baking the next evening. Also, if you don’t want to make the sauce i’ve linked to here, you can use Prego Smart Light without affecting your calorie count. Any other jarred sauce will increase your calories.
30 jumbo pasta shells
3 cups marinara sauce
15 ounces part-skim ricotta cheese
2 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
pepper, to taste
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided into 1/2 cup and 1 cup)
1 box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
Directions:
1. Boil a large pot of water, and boil your shells until al dente.
2. Mix ricotta, egg white, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup mozzarella in a medium sized bowl.
3. Lay about 4 stacked paper towels flat on your counter. Spread the thawed spinach out on these towels, and top with about 3 additional paper towels. Press hard to remove all the water from the spinach. This is very important. Otherwise your pasta will be watery.
4. Mix Spinach into ricotta mixture until everything is well incorporated.
5. Spread about 3/4 cup of marinara sauce on the bottom of an 8X13 baking pan.
6. Carefully stuff each shell with about 2 TBSP of Ricotta mixture, and set them into the 8×13 pan on top of the sauce. Arrange them in rows. They will be a tight fit.
7. Once all shells are stuffed and arranged, pour remaining Marinara sauce evenly over the tops of the shells.
8. Sprinkle evenly with remaining mozzarella cheese.
9. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 20 min. Uncover and continue baking an additional 5-10 min.
10. Allow shells to sit/cool for about 5-10 min before serving. They will be hot.
Source: mommysonadiet.net
2. Mix ricotta, egg white, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup mozzarella in a medium sized bowl.
3. Lay about 4 stacked paper towels flat on your counter. Spread the thawed spinach out on these towels, and top with about 3 additional paper towels. Press hard to remove all the water from the spinach. This is very important. Otherwise your pasta will be watery.
4. Mix Spinach into ricotta mixture until everything is well incorporated.
5. Spread about 3/4 cup of marinara sauce on the bottom of an 8X13 baking pan.
6. Carefully stuff each shell with about 2 TBSP of Ricotta mixture, and set them into the 8×13 pan on top of the sauce. Arrange them in rows. They will be a tight fit.
7. Once all shells are stuffed and arranged, pour remaining Marinara sauce evenly over the tops of the shells.
8. Sprinkle evenly with remaining mozzarella cheese.
9. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 20 min. Uncover and continue baking an additional 5-10 min.
10. Allow shells to sit/cool for about 5-10 min before serving. They will be hot.
Source: mommysonadiet.net