Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells

Stuffed shells are so easy and super fun to make! I recently made a more traditional version of this dish with a group of children and they had a blast mixing and filing the shells. Not to mention, they ate every bite… spinach included! If you want to get your kids to eat their veggies, get them in kitchen. It truly makes a difference.

I liked this recipe because I love vegetable lasagna but I can’t afford the time it takes to make and bake in the oven. As you know if you follow my blog, when it’s dinner time, I’m hungry, and it better not take me long to make anything or else I’m out, down for the count, and wasting precious calories on anything I can get my hands on from the pantry. (aka: Wheat Thins and peanut butter)

Stuffing jumbo pasta shells with lasagna ingredients not only cuts down on time but it also helps you with portion control. Sneaking an extra bite of lasagna is easy but grabbing another shell can make you think twice!

Also, I added chicken for the hubs. He’s a meat-a-holic. Not really… he can enjoy a good hearty… key word hearty… vegetarian meal every once in a while but he’d simply rather not. I can’t really blame him but you wouldn’t have to use chicken if you didn’t want to.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells

Time: 45 minutes
Level: Easy
Servings: 4, 3 shells each

1 chicken boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and chopped into bite sized cubes
15 jumbo pasta shells, in case a few break
1 tbsp. oil
2 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 c. onion, chopped
1/3 c. carrots, sliced thin
1/3 c. frozen corn
1/3 c. frozen bell peppers
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/2 tbsp. Italian seasoning
1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/3 c. frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 c. cottage cheese
1 egg
1 c. spaghetti sauce
1/4 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese, shredded

Vegetable Lasagna

Yum! I love lasagna. If you haven’t tried my traditional lasagna recipe… please do. It is definitely the easiest and tastiest recipe I’ve ever made. This vegetable lasagna was created out of a need to use up some summer vegetables. Carrots, yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, corn, onions, and tomatoes all come together to make this dish truly delicious.

You can use just about any combo of veggies you want. This dish also freezes incredibly well so make extras!!

Vegetable Lasagna

Servings: 6-8
Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Level: Easy/Medium

3 c. vegetables, sliced roughly the same size (I used carrots, eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini, onions, and corn)
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/4 c. water
2 c. cottage cheese
3 c. Mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 eggs
3 tbsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 tbsp. red pepper flakes
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
Lasagna noodles, at least 9, and uncooked

Preheat oven to 350°. In a skillet, over medium heat, sauté vegetables for 3-5 minutes.

Add tomatoes and water. Turn down the heat and let the vegetables simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together all remaining ingredients, except for vegetables and noodles.

Pour 1 cup of the vegetable mixture into a 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Place 3 strips of the dry lasagna noodles on top.

Layer the following in order:

1 1/4 cups of vegetable mixture
1/2 of the cheese mixture
3 more dry noodles
1 1/4 cups of vegetable mixture
The rest of the cheese mixture
3 more dry noodles
The rest of the vegetable mixture.

Cover baking dish with foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let stand, uncovered, for at least 5 minutes before cutting and serving. Yum!

Tips
- If you run out of sauce before you can add the last layer, don’t worry! I ended my 1/3 of the recipe version with the cheese mixture and it turned out great!
- This recipe freezes well, with before or after you bake. If you have a ton of leftovers… freeze them in individual portions. It will make a quick and easy dinner later on.