Sausage Stuffed Shells.

I’ve been on this huge, lets try new recipes kick! We tried this new one with sausage stuffed shells, and it was soo good! I found the original recipe from Amber on Instagram, she shares the best recipes. You can find her here. I changed the recipe a tad, because we have such picky eaters in our family.

INGREDIENTS:
1 (16oz) package jumbo pasta shells
2 – 2 1/2 cups cottage cheese
12oz shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
3/4 cup parmesean cheese
12oz pasta sauce
2 pounds sausage (we used Jimmy Dean pork sausage)
Dried parsley for garnish (optional, we did not use)

DIRECTIONS:
In a large skillet over medium heat, brown and crumble the sausage. Drain any excess fat and remove from heat. While the sausage is browning, cook the shells according to the package.
I cooked the shells until they were just under al dente so they didn’t fall apart while filling them.
In a mixing bowl, combine the cottage cheese, 8oz of mozzarella, 1/2 cup of parmesan, eggs, oregano, and garlic powder. Fold in 1/2 of the crumbled sausage. Add in salt and pepper as needed.

Coat the bottom of a 9×13 pan with the pasta sauce. Spoon the cheese mixture into the shells and place the shells open side up, (this part is super messy), super close together in the dish. 

Sprinkle the remaining sausage over the top of the shells, then sprinkle with the remaining 4oz of mozzarella and the 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes. We baked it for 25 minutes, and then switched the oven to broil for about 4-5 minutes to brown the cheese a little bit.

We loved it! It was very good. The original recipe can be found here, we changed it up quite a bit. We are not huge fans of ricotta cheese, and not huge amounts of oregano either. How we made it, tasted great for us! You can switch it up however you know your family will like it!

We also made this easy cheese bomb bread with it! I failed to take some photos of this bread, but it was super super easy. All we did was take a can of biscuits, whichever kind you like, cut the biscuits into fours. Take a mozzarella cheese stick, chop it up into small pieces, and place each cheese chunk into the biscuit piece and roll it up. We melted some butter, spread it across the top of each piece and lightly seasoned each one with italian seasoning. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. It was so good! Recipe can be found from The Sister Studio IG!