Vegetarian Stuffed Shells with Classico Creamy Spinach and Parmesan

So it’s National Pasta Day!  How cool is it that we have a day for that?  So of course I had to feature, you know, pasta.  I got invited by Classico to try out their new Creamy Spinach and Parmesan Pasta Sauce, along with a fabulous pasta pot, a swanky new Oxo grater, and some pasta tongs as part of their Classico Creations starter kit.  However, no payment was given or expected for posting about the program, and as always, all opinions given here are fully my own.

I’ve also got A GIVEAWAY!  They also gave me 5, count ‘em FIVE coupons for a free jar of Classico Pasta sauce!  I will be picking five random peeps from commenters to pass these on to so you can try your own Classico Creation.  Just leave a comment saying which Classico sauce YOU’D like to try.    Be sure to leave your email address in the comment field (I won’t publish it, but I’ll want to be able to let you know you won!).

Ingredients:

• 1 box jumbo shells
• 1 24 ounce container of light cottage cheese (I like Kraft’s Simply Cottage Cheese)
• 1 28 ounce bag of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess liquid
• 8 ounces fresh baby bella mushrooms, diced
• 1 12 ounce jar of roasted red peppers, diced
• 2 zucchini, diced
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 ounce asiago cheese, finely grated
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 jar Classico Creamy Spinach and Parmesan Pasta Sauce

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, LESS FOUR MINUTES.  You want these to be under al dente so that you can handle them without actually tearing the pasta while you’re filling them.   Drain, dunk in ice water, and set aside to drain again.
2. Heat the olive oil over medium high heat.
3. Saute the red onion and zucchini until starting to soften.
4. Add the mushrooms, garlic, and red peppers and cook another few minutes, until the mushrooms cook down.
5. Remove from heat and set aside.
6. Combine the cottage cheese, spinach, cooked veggies, asiago, and spices.  Mix well.
7. Prep a 9×13 baking dish and a second 9×9 baking dish (this second you will be lining with foil and spraying THAT with the cooking spray because this is gonna be a meal for later).
8. Stuff the shells and line up carefully.  You should be able to fit 24 into the 9×13 and another 12 into the 9×9.  You may have shells left over.  You won’t have filling.
9. Fold the foil closed and pop that one as is into a freezer bag and stuff in the freezer to cook with some other jarred sauce at a later date.  I say this because I made WAAAAY too much filling and too many shells and this is what I decided to do with the overage!
10. Pour the jar of Classico sauce over the 9×13 dish of shells.
11. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for 20-30 minutes, until heated through and the sauce kind of oozes down around the shells.
12. Enjoy!

Printable version.

This steel magnolia is the poster child for successfully Doing All the Things, smart phone in one hand, sword in the other. Author of action-packed PR/UF for adults and teens. You can catch up with her at Pots and Plots, her blog, Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads.