My friend Julie makes the BEST Italian dishes. At our last game night, she brought two large pans of stuffed shells and they were AMAZING. Lucky for us that she is sharing her recipe with us so that we can make it anytime we want.
Julie is probably one of the pickiest eaters I have ever met. On the flip side of that coin, she is an absolutely amazing cook. A few months ago she made lasagna and brought it to my house for game night. Um – I can never make my version after I ate hers. Her lasagna pretty much blew every other lasagna out of the water, so to speak.
For our last game night, I asked her what she thought we should have for dinner. When she offered to make stuffed shells, I said, “YES!!!” I knew the shells would be good, so I should not have been surprised at just how good they were. Julie told me that she uses marscapone cheese in her recipe. That would explain why her shells were so creamy and luscious.
Say Cheese!
Marscapone cheese ended up becoming a topic of discussion at dinner. We questioned how you pronounced the word. According to a food encyclopedia, here is the break down –> [mah-skar-POH-nay] . In reality, marscapone is a thickened cream and is often used to make tiramisu or cheesecake. (It can also be used to make a creamy spread.) Any way you choose to use it, you’ll end up with something delicious.
When you make this dish, you can round it out with a simple Italian salad and some French bread. Your family will thank you. 🙂
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Loaded Shells
Ingredients
- 1/2 box Barilla Jumbo Shells
- 1/2 jar marinara
- 1/2 jar 3 cheese sauce
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 8.8 oz mascarpone
- 1 cup fresh grated Parmesan
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella
- Fresh parsley
- Italian seasoning
Instructions
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Cook the shells for 9 minutes and then drain and let cool.
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Grate the Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
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Mix the ricotta, mascarpone, 1/2 of the Parmesan, 1/2 of the mozzarella, and the parsley (or you can wait and put parsley on top). [I use about 1/2 cup of fresh parsley. I put a little salt and pepper in with this mixture.]
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Mix the marinara and 3 cheese sauce together.
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Spray the glass 13 x 9 pan with cooking spray.
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Put half the sauce mixture on the bottom of the pan. Stuff the shells with the cheese mixture so they are full but still close. Put them face up in the pan.
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Spread the rest of the sauce mixture on top of the shells.
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Sprinkle the rest of the Parmesan and mozzarella on top of the shells.
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Sprinkle Italian seasoning on the top and the parsley if not mixed in with cheese.
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Cover and cook for about 30 - 40 minutes at 400 degrees.
Recipe Notes
Recipe courtesy of Julie C.Thanks, Julie!
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