Spinach Stuffed Shells

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I hope you all have a wonderful day.  Today’s recipe is a great last minute Valentine’s dinner recipe if you don’t have one yet. The red and white color of this dish is perfect for the holiday.  This dish is also good for any old reason.  It does have spinach in it, but if your kids are opposed to the green stuff, you can always leave it out and add a little parsley for color.  This recipe is a good way to eat spinach because you really can’t taste it with all the cheese.
The other great think about this is it makes a lot.  I made one that night and one for the freezer.  I love the recipes that are cook once, eat twice.  I adapted this recipe from one over at The Sister’s Cafe.  The photo below was also taken before cooking the shells in the oven.

Spinach Stuffed Shells

• 1 (12 oz) box of jumbo pasta shells
• 1 (12 oz) pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella
• 3/4 cups Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 (30 oz) container ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper
• 1 (24 oz) jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 (8 oz) can of tomato sauce

1. Place the spinach into a clean dish towel and squeeze out any excess liquid.
2. Cook shells according to package directions, drain,  and cool shells for a few minutes on a piece of waxed paper or foil.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the spinach, mozzarella, 1/2 cup of Parmesan, ricotta, and egg with a little salt and pepper.
4. Using a cookie scoop or spoon, stuff approximately 1 1/2 Tbsp of the cheese mixture into each shell.
5. In two 9×9 or 11×7 inch baking dishes, spread a couple of spoonfuls of spaghetti sauce into the bottom of each dish.  Add the tomato sauce to the remaining spaghetti sauce in the jar and stir to combine.
6. Place half of the shells in each of the baking dishes.  Pour half of the remaining sauce over one dish of shells and pour the rest over the other dish.  Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan over the shells.
7. Cover dishes with foil and bake one and freeze one.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes until hot and bubbly.  To prepare the frozen dish, bake at 350 degrees at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 30-45 minutes.  You should get about 40-45 shells between both pans.  One pan will serve 5.