Italian Stuffed Pasta Shells

This is one of those recipes that is delicious, nutritious and full of flavor. Cheese, Marinara Sauce, More cheese, Spinach, more cheese. Get the point? LOL

My son who is very picky and is at that age where he hates most green vegetables, loves these spinach and ground turkey stuffed shells.  I love to serve this with garlic bread, or a crusty baguette and a crisp garden salad. You can even freeze this and reheat later and it is absolutely as delicious as the day you made it. What I love about this dish is that you can modify and make it as healthy or as indulgent as you want. You can simply use low fat or skim cheese or make your stuffing completely vegetarian.  This recipe will take a little time to prepare, but is well worth it. When you put this on the table those ummms and aahhhs will let you know that your time in the kitchen was well spent:-)

Spinach and cheese up close and personal. Do you see all of that deliciousness?

Ricotta cheese swimming in mozzarella, backstroking with some ground turkey, dog paddling into some garlic, butterfly stroking in some Romano  and catching a wave of fresh marinara sauce.  Don't cha wanna dive into this?

Look at that...

Aw come on...stop stallin. Don't make me eat this by myself. Why don't you make some too? Then we can get on the phone and call our friends and say..."Guess what I'm having for dinner?" Don't you want some? Hey, why don't we skype them and then wave the fork in the air with the spinach and cheese dripping off of it:-) That would really be wrong wouldn't it? LOL

Ok, lets get this party started!

Ingredients

• 1 (12 ounce) package jumbo pasta shells
• ½ pound ground turkey
• ½ chopped onion
• 1 egg
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• 1 (32 ounce) container ricotta cheese
• 2 ½ cups mozzarella cheese
• 8 ounces grated Parmesan cheese or Romano, divided
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 2 teaspoons  garlic salt
•  2 tablespoons Italian Seasoning
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (28 ounce) jar pasta sauce

Salt and pepper to taste for seasoning meat mixture

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta shell  and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
3. Place ground turkey in a skillet and season with salt and pepper to taste and cook until evenly brown.  Add onion and cook until translucent. Drain ground turkey and Crumble
4. In a large bowl, Mix Ground Turkey mix eggs, ricotta, half the mozzarella, half the Parmesan, parsley, and seasonings until well combined. Stuff cooked shells with ricotta mixture and spread a layer of spaghetti sauce  in a 9x13 pan and then  place the stuffed shells on top
5. Pour remaining sauce over the shells and sprinkle generously with the remaining cheese
6. Bake in preheated oven 40  to 50 minutes, until edges are bubbly and shells are slightly set.