Italian Cheesy Shells

Easy to make?  YES.
Easy ingredients?  YES.

Yummy?  YES.  

Fast to prepare?  Well,  there are certainly faster recipes, but i think the first answers make up for this last answer.  It usually takes me about 45 minutes of prep-work & then I bake it for about 30 minutes.  And we usually get at least 6 meals out of it -- I love having leftovers to take to work.

This IS definitely one of my favorite go-to dinners.

Ingredients:
30 dried jumbo pasta shells
2 beaten eggs
24 oz carton low-fat cottage cheese (use about 3/4 of it)

16 oz ricotta cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1&1/2 cups frozen spinach, thawed & squeezed out
1&1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning
14 oz can Italian diced tomatoes (I've been using Hunts -- they ARE better than the store brand!)
24 oz jar of Prego or Bertoli spaghetti sauce (I use the garlic & parmesan kind, but any will do)


1.  Cook pasta shells about 14 minutes til tender but still firm.  Add a little olive oil & garlic salt to the cooking water.  Lightly spray a 9x13 cooking dish.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Meanwhile, for filling, stir together egg, cottage cheese, ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, seasoning & spinach.  You'll want the spinach to be as dry as possible.  Stir mixture so that it becomes as uniform throughout as possible.  Spoon a little less than 1/4 cup of cheese mixture into each pasta shell.  Arrange shells in the prepared 9x13 glass cooking dish.

3.  Drain the canned tomatoes & combine with about 3/4 of the jar of Prego.  Amounts don't have to be exact.  Spoon the saucy mixture over the cheesy shells.  Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Uncover & continue to bake 10 or 15 minutes more or til heated through.

4.  Serve with a green salad & garlic toast.