Florentine Stuffed Shells

Last week I made my fabulous Stuffed Shells for a friend's birthday. Usually I over stuff my shells so I run out of the cheese mixture before I fill all the shells. I wound up having extra store bought ricotta that I didn't put into the cheese mixture along with the shells. Add in the spinach I had no use for and I was all set for tonight's Meatless Monday!

I searched around for a Florentine shell recipe but couldn't find any that appealed to me. One used cottage cheese instead of ricotta. While I have been curious at the uses of cottage cheese to lower the calorie intake of some of my favorite recipes, tonight was not the night for that. I have leftover ricotta cheese to use! Most of the recipes I found called for frozen spinach. With only fresh on hand, I had to improvise. I'll just give you what I came up with, though I have no exact measurements!

These are all estimated measurements:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 cups ricotta cheese
• 1 egg (exactly)
• 5-8 mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• a couple handfuls spinach, coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• Approximately 12 cooked large pasta shells
• Half a jar marinara sauce

Preheat oven to350. Heat the oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add garlic and mushrooms then saute. Once mushrooms are mostly cooked, add spinach and cook until leaves wilt. Mix vegetables with ricotta cheese and one egg. Line a baking dish with a layer of sauce. Put a spoonful of cheese/veggie mixture into each pasta shell. Sit in baking dish. When all the shells are stuffed, cover with another layer of sauce. Add some mozzarella cheese to top if you have any. If not, no biggie!!
Cover with foil and bake 30-35 minutes.

These shells were pretty tasty for a meal meant to use up some of the perishable ingredients I had on hand. There is still a small amount or ricotta in my fridge that I'll need to find a use for. I was not the fondest of the texture of the cheese, but I cant ask for much better without spending the time for homemade and not mixing in mozzarella to make it creamier.

Tonight Sophia informed me that shells are her favorite food ever! I guess that means I should make them more often. I'm not complaining at all, though my waistline might start too! I had chopped the mushrooms fairly small, but she still noticed a bit of one and asked what it was. My usual answer to "what is this?" is, "I don't know". Sometimes she won't try something just because she doesn't like what its called and thinks she doesn't like it. Well, tonight she blew me away by telling me it was a mushroom after she tasted it. She actually recognized the taste without being able to recognize it by sight. Sometimes she likes mushrooms and sometimes she doesn't. I can't quite keep up with her preferences.