Stuffed Shells

Sunshine, Sweet tooth, Smile, Smooch, Stuffed Shells? Today is "S" day! And it's a double whammy with stuffed shells! These were wonderful, amazing, tasty, and gone in hours. I loved every bite!

Typically I've found that most stuffed shells are a mixture of cheeses, well not these babies, they have very little dairy in them and it is easily removed. We used lean ground turkey and vegetables for the filling! I enjoyed these shells so much more than typical cheese filled shells.

Even before I limited my dairy intake I thought cheese ravioli and cheese stuffed pastas were too much, I didn't really enjoy them. So needless to say that may be one of the many reasons why I enjoyed these shells so much.

I love it when I do a post for a meal that hit the spot so much, they are much more expressive :) it makes me want to sit here and wait for everyone to post a comment and tell me how deliciously sinful they found them as well! I won't, I do have things to do believe it or not. That doesn't mean I don't know that you'll love them as much as I did though!

The only downside is, I was never able to find whole grain shells, I found some garden shells that had crushed vegetables in them, but I still cringed at the ingredient list that said enriched flour! Yuck, that was the only rain cloud that lingered...for just a second. This is a beautiful meal, so I suggest use it when you want to strut your stuff and show off your skills to people :)

Stuffed Shells

 1 lb lean ground turkey

1 small onion

1/2 green pepper

1/2 red pepper

3 mushrooms (optional)

1/3 C feta cheese crumbles

Sauce

1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 C water

1 T basil

1 T oregano

1 T parsley

1 bay leaf

1 package of jumbo shell pasta

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook shell pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside. Add turkey and onion to skillet. Brown turkey for about 7 minutes then add remaining vegetables to saute together. Cook until turkey is completely browned. Remove turkey mixture from skillet and place in a large bowl.

Add feta cheese to turkey. Set aside. In turkey skillet add all sauce ingredients. Simmer covered for 10 minutes then remove from heat. Add 1/3 C of sauce to the meat mixture. Spoon small amounts of meat mixture into cooked shells. Place shells into deep baking dish. When all the shells are filled

 top them with the remaining sauce. Place in the oven and bake for 25-30 minuted until the sauce is bubbly. 

Enjoy