Stuffed Pasta Shells

I had this dish for the first time three or four years ago when my brother brought his then-girlfriend Ashley to the beach with our family. At the time, I didn't know the love I would one day have for Ashley, but I think her pasta shells were a strong indication of good things to come.

It's a miracle Ashley spoke to any of us after that trip. And a greater miracle that she married my brother after seeing how mad he got at his baby sister for leaving hair in the shower drain. My bad, I have a lot of hair!

My guess is that it all worked out because she cooked pasta shells for us one night. A bond was formed over cheese, pasta and marinara.

And maybe because Ashley doesn't shed as much as me during her shampoo and rinse.

My husband is also a huge fan of these pasta shells, so I made this dish for us last night. The recipe calls for ground beef, which I replaced with ground turkey. It still had plenty of flavor and was much leaner. I didn't even have to drain the meat once it browned. I recommend trying the ground turkey if for no other reason than it will save you a step in the cooking process.

Stuffed Pasta Shells

1 1b. ground beef our turkey
1 box jumbo pasta shells
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
Parmesan cheese
2 one-inch slices of Velveeta
1 can cream of mushroom
salt and pepper to taste

• Boil pasta and set aside to cool.
• Brown hamburger meat, drain. Add cream of mushroom soup, 3 heaping tablespoons of spaghetti sauce, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and Velveeta. Mix well.
• Spray Pam in casserole dish and pour a little spaghetti sauce on bottom of the pan.
• Stuff shells and place in the dish.
• Pour spaghetti sauce on top and sprinkle with cheese.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Sidenote: Something terrible must have happened on Blogger because comments from the last several posts have disappeared and the order of the posts is a bit scrambled. Please don't hold me accountable!