Spinach Stuffed Shells

We had a dinner meeting at our house this past Friday night and I wanted to make something that was easy to make everything ahead and just stick it in the oven, and also easy to double for a crowd of 17 people. I immediately thought of stuffed shells and went searching for a recipe. I then remembered I had starred this recipe from Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes. She used a meat sauce, but I went with just straight marinara.

This was so comforting and just delicious! You would never think this was a weight watcher type recipe at all! It tasted very decadent! I served them with salad and french bread. These stuffed shells are definitely a great go-to recipe and I think they would be great to freeze (prior to adding the sauce) and then bake as well. I was able to make the filling and stuff the shells ahead of time. Then a little before I needed to bake them, I made my go-to marinara sauce (semi-homemade & posted below) instead of the one she suggested and popped these babies in the oven. I highly recommend these for any dinner party!

Spinach Stuffed Shells with Marinara

Source: Gina's Weight Watcher's Recipes

For the Shells:
12 oz Jumbo Shells
1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
1/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cups part skim ricotta cheese
2 cups 2% milk reduced fat mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 egg
10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed and drained

1/4 cup Grated Parmesan

For the Sauce:

1 28 oz. can Hunt's Traditional Spaghetti Sauce

1 tbsp. Italian Seasoning

Directions:

Boil water and cook shells according to package directions (about 15 minutes), make sure to make them al dente.

In a large sauce pan add spaghetti sauce and italian seasoning, then simmer on low, covered for about 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375°.

In a large bowl, mix together ricotta, egg, spinach, mozzarella, italian seasoning, parmesan, salt & pepper.

Once shells are cooked and have cooled, fill shells with the cheese mixture and place in baking dish with a little sauce in the bottom. Cover shells with remaining sauce, cover with foil and bake 40 minutes, uncover foil and bake 5 more minutes.