Lasagna Stuffed Shells

My husband absolutely loves when I make lasagna.  The extra saucy dish is filled with herbs and spices, and a mixture of cheeses melt in your mouth as you take each bite.  It's well worth the hours that it takes to make it, but who can find time in their day for hours of such things?

So, I was searching around for pasta dishes a few weeks ago and stumbled upon Lasagna Stuffed Shells.  The recipe sounded pretty tasty and fairly easy to make, but best of all, it was only supposed to take an easy 50 minutes from start to finish!  Although it's no "real lasagna", it's saucy and cheesy and everything you could want from a quick lasagna. 

The recipe can be found here.

To make this recipe, I used:

Lasagna Stuffed Shells
22 jumbo pasta shells (extra compared to the original recipe in case some break)
1 1/2 lb ground beef
2 Tbsp chopped onion
2-6 oz cans tomato paste
2-8 oz cans tomato sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 eggs
3 cups cottage cheese
1-16 oz bag shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1.  Preheat your oven to 375 F.  Fill a pot of water and heat to a boil.  Cook the shell pasta until al dente.  Drain well and rinse with cold water.
2. Heat a large skillet over med-high heat.  Cook the beef and onion in the skillet until browned.  Drain the grease off of the beef; add the tomato paste, tomato sauce, salt, oregano, and garlic powder.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Spread half of the sauce into a greased 9x13-in baking dish.

4. Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl.  Stir in the cottage cheese, 3/4 of the mozzarella cheese, Parm cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper.

5. Spoon the cheese mixture into the shells and set them into the baking dish.

6. Once all of the shells have been filled, pour the remaining meat sauce over the shells and sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella cheese.

 7. Bake until the shells are hot and bubbly, about 30 minutes.

It's delicious! Derek shook his head out of disbelief the entire time he ate. 



In other news, I had the chance to hold baby Gage this weekend!