Italian Shells

Italian Turkey Stuffed Shells
(picture and recipe from goodthingsutah.com)

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 small onion, minced

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes (cut up and big pieces)

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (I used about half)

1 tablespoon dried basil (I cut in half)

2 teaspoons dried oregano (I also cut this in half)

1 (4.5 ounce) can sliced mushrooms, drained

4 cups shredded Italian Style cheese (I used 2 cups from the Italian Blend cheese package)

12 large shell pasta and drain

1 pound of cooked browned ground turkey (or beef)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
   
2. Brown and drain the ground turkey.
   
3. Boil the water and cook the Large shelled pasta, drain and rinse with cold water.
4. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and cook until translucent, about three minutes.
   
5. Stir in the tomato paste, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, Italian seasoning, basil, oregano, mushrooms, and 4 cups of the shredded cheese. Cook until the cheese has melted, stirring occasionally. While the sauce is cooking, add the cooked turkey.
6. Place the pasta in a 9x13 inch glass dish sprayed with cooking spray. Spoon the mixture into the shells, saving sauce to spoon around the shell pasta.

Cover the top of the dish with foil. Bake in the preheated oven about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with green salad or green beans and bread.

I saw this recipe on Good Things Utah. We thought it was great! I halved the cheese, didn't melt it before putting it in the oven, browned the onions with the ground turkey instead of separately to save time. The ground turkey is pretty healthy and cheap, too. It tasted good in this recipe! I cut the seasonings in half just to make it less potent for the kids. Season to preference.

Email Story

To Email:	To Email is Required. A valid email address is required.
Your Name:	Your Name is Required.
Your Email:	Your Email is Required. A valid email address is required.
Message:
	Send a copy to my email

Please add 2 and 5 and type the answer here:

You can send a story to multiple email addresses by separating the email addresses with a semicolon (;)

This station will not store your email address or your recipient's email address or use them in any way.