Stuffed Shells with Sausage and Spinach

This is another pinterest find for me. It smelled awesome while cooking. It made 21 shells. I sent 8 home with my mom and we had the remaining 13. Of those 13 there was only 3 left after dinner. I call that a success. Here's the recipe.

BakedShells with Sausage and Spinach Recipe

Serves: 4 (not really, this fed 5)

 Ingredients

• 16-18 jumbo pasta shells
• 1 pound fresh pork sausage links, casing removed
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and squeeze dry
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded mozarella cheese
• salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and fill a large bowl with cold water and ice, set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta shells and cook according to package directions. Drain well then add to ice water until ready to stuff.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork sausage then use a wooden spoon to break up the sausage, cook 5-6 minutes until browned.
4. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds then add tomatoes and spinach; cook 1 minute.
5. Remove pan from heat and stir in ricotta cheese.
6. Using a spoon, fill pasta shells with pork filling and arrange in a baking dish (9-inch x 9-inch baking dish works well). Sprinkle tops with shredded cheese then bake in the oven 25-30 minutes until cheese has melted and tips of shells begin to crisp and brown.

Jeff over-cheesed it a little....

My notes:

I HATE frozen spinach. Seriously. I pretty much refuse to use it. I chalk it up to an unpleasant situation at the cafeteria at work.  Sooo that being said I used fresh spinach (about 2 loose cups) instead of frozen spinach. I went to the butcher counter and asked for Italian sausage, why get links instead of bulk sausage? I also added some marinara sauce to the top of the shells. Totally made the dish. Try it, you won't be sorry. The kid even ate the spinach.... there's something to be said for that.

Update: Not only did the kid eat this, she has requested it again. Success!