Family Dinners: Spinach & Ricotta Stuffed Shells

As promised in my weekly meal plan, I made Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells from Estela at Weekly Bite.

We had it Tuesday and not only was it easy (when I say it’s easy it really is easy), it was delicious. I like preparing meals like this earlier in the day so I can just slip it the oven later. The recipe calls for turkey sausage but if you prefer it meat-free, it would still taste great.

I’m so glad we had the fridge stocked because it has been one of those weeks. My son had two bad nights of teething and then the third night my daughter came down with a stomach virus. Not fun. But it sure is nice to have (tasty) leftovers in the fridge.

And one last thing, Estela (also an RD) has a 12-week no diet challenge going on at her blog. She shows people how to make healthy lifestyle changes without dieting (a timely topic given my last post). Check it out.

Ingredients:

•3 cups of favorite pasta sauce
•One box of whole wheat pasta shells (I couldn’t find them)
•3 cups part-skim ricotta
•1/2 parmesan cheese (used 1/4 cup grated parm)
•3 links lean Italian turkey sausage (remove casein)
•1 teaspoon onion salt
•2 teaspoons garlic powder
•1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
•1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
•about 10 grinds of fresh cracked pepper
•One 10 oz box of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
•1 egg yolk
•part-skim mozzarella

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove turkey sausage from casein and cook in saucepan until cooked through.

Cook pasta shells according to box directions.

Combine turkey sausage, ricotta, parmesan, onion salt, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, spinach, and egg yolk.