Ricotta Stuffed Shells

I'm still working on this recipe, but it still tastes fantastic.

Ingredients:

• 1 box Jumbo Shells
• 15 oz. Ricotta Cheese
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• 2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Pepper
• 1 tsp Oregano
• 1 tsp Parsley
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp Onion Powder
• 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
• 15 oz. Tomato Sauce
• 6 oz. Tomato Paste
• 1 packet Dry Spaghetti Sauce Mix
• 1 lb Ground Beef or Turkey

Start off by boiling water with 1 tsp of Salt and 1 tbsp of Vegetable in it.  The vegetable oil is to keep the shells from sticking together.  Once boiling, add the shells.  Stir occasionally to prevent shells from sticking to the bottom.  Boil until shells just begin to soften, cooking them too long will cause the shells to tear when stuffing them.  After they are done, drain the water and allow the shells to cool, so they are easy to handle.  While they are cooling, you can prepare the sauce and filling.


Filling:

Mix the ricotta, 1 tsp of salt, oregano, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, 1 egg, and 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese. 

Use 1 tbsp of vegetable oil to lightly coat the bottom of a baking dish.  I normally just wipe it on the bottom of the dish with a paper towel.  Then spoon the filling into the shells and line them in the bottom of the dish.  I put roughly a teaspoon in each shell.

Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese over the shells.  Cover the baking dish with tinfoil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  While this is baking, you can prepare the sauce.


Sauce:

As you can see, ground beef or turkey isn't in the above picture, since it is optional.  If you want to add meat, simply brown, drain, and rinse your ground beef/turkey before adding it to the sauce mixture.

Mix tomato sauce, tomato paste, the dry spaghetti sauce mix, and 1/4 cup of water into a medium sauce pan.  Add meat as well if you would like.  Heat on the stove at medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Then cover and reduce heat to low.


Combining:

After your shells have cooked covered for 30 minutes, remove dish from the oven.  Spread the sauce mix over the top of the pasta shells, and return to the oven, uncovered, for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, remove from oven, serve while warm, and enjoy!

Since this is my first entry, I'm expecting myself to have made some mistakes (I'm trying to be realistic!).  Feel free to leave a message or e-mail if you have any questions!