Bon Apetit! Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Shells

Who doesn't like Italian Food? Looks pretty good huh? And all homemade! This was our vegetarian night. This was really easy and quick. Not to mention not a lot of pots. Take a box of stuffed shells and add about 4 per person to boiling water. Add garlic, EVOO and a box of defrosted chopped spinach to a pan. Put ricotta cheese, rough chopped artichoke hearts, 1 egg yolk and S&P in a bowl. Once spinach mixture is warm, add to ricotta. Add parm cheese and some basil. Toss Quickly! To a casserole dish add a can of whole tomatoes, basil, S&P and butter. Mash tomatoes. When shells are done, spoon the ricotta mixture into the shells and lay into the casserole dish. Sprinkle with parm cheese and cover with foil. Bake at 375 for 20 mins. Then remove the foil and continue baking for 15 mins. Don't worry if you put it in too long. It really can't over cook. You want to make sure the shells are hot. Remember there is a raw egg in the ricotta. When finished let stand for 10 mins. Just to cool a bit. You can also make this meal with crab meat, just add some old bay to the ricotta mixture and some crab meat or hamburger, just make the meat in a pan til brown and add to ricotta mixture. I served it with a caesar salad and homemade croutons...

You know how some people have family secrets or recipes that they don't tell anyone? I like to think my croutons fall into that category. No no, I am just kidding. I think that you should be able to share you cooking with everyone. No matter if you write down each ingredient and measure it, I honestly think that food will never taste exactly the same twice.

Croutons:
Take any bread. I actually used stale bagels and some white bread. Add melted butter and EVOO..now dump your spice cabinet. I use everything from garlic powder to Old Bay. I add some S & P, parsley flakes, dried basil, whatever is in the spice cabinet. They always come out great. One tip of advice...only use regular salt. Don't add garlic salt or seasoned salt because then they become too salty. Bake along with the shells for about 20 mins, stirring every so often. Sample and remove when the croutons are crispy on the outside but semi-soft on the inside.

So for a nice Friday night in, this meal was great AND of course because I cook for the entire town when I make dinner, we have left overs for lunch or another night for dinner. I even put some shells in the freezer before I cooked them.

CHEF TIP: Because I personally am not one to measure ANYTHING...I tend to have leftovers out of everything I cook. What I began doing is before cooking, I wrap and freeze. So I made some shells, wrapped in foil and froze, so for a quick meal, I can defrost the shells and pour sauce over.

Saturday...Turkey Burgers with creamy cranberry sauce.