Stuffed Shells

My friend Shelli is always so kind and thoughtful when I go to her house for dinner.  She always considers my vegetarianism and what I might enjoy.  This dish is an old classic that I would not have remembered except she made it for me.  It can easily be made low-fat since she uses cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese.  She gave me the recipe and it's super easy and yummy!

Ingredients:

• Large shell pasta (approximately 18 shells)
• 1 24 oz. vat of cottage cheese (can use low-fat)
• 1 16 oz. bag of mozzarella cheese (can use low-fat)
• One jar of pasta sauce
• 1 egg
• Parsley to sprinkle

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Boil water and add the large shell pasta, cook until soft. 

2.  In the meantime, combine the cottage cheese, almost all of the mozzarella cheese, egg, and parsley into a bowl.  Mix thoroughly.

3.  After pasta is soft, drain and run under cold water to cool down shells. 

4.  While waiting for shells to cool down, cover the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking pan with the pasta sauce.

5.  Once cool enough to touch, stuff the shells with the cheese combination and begin placing into the pan.

6.  You should be able to fill and fit about 18 shells with a 9x13 pan and with this much cheese mixture.

7.  Once the pan is full, place the remaining pasta over the shells.

8.  Bake the shells in the oven for 40-45 minutes.  About 5 minutes before removing from the oven, place remaining mozzarella cheese over the shells.

9.  When finished baking, allow to cool for about 15 minutes so the cheese cool back together.