Sausage and Spinach Stuffed Shells (S to the power of 4)

Tired of the same old pasta dishes - spaghetti, fettucini alfredo and lasagna? Here's a stuffed shell recipe that always gets rave reviews.

Short on time? Prepare the dish the night before and refrigerate. The next day, remove from the fridge and let stand for 30 minutes at room temperature before baking.

Ingredients:
25 jumbo pasta shells
3/4 lb Italian sausage (hot or mild, your choice)
10 oz. pkg frozen chopped spinach - thawed, squeezed dry
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp oregano
26 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
8 oz. pkg shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Cook shells according to package directions. Drain and rinse in cold water.
2. Brown sausage over medium-high heat. Drain and crumble.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine cooked sausage, spinach, ricotta, cottage cheese, egg, garlic, lemon juice, and oregano.
4. Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
5. Stuff pasta shells with sausage mixture.
6. Place thin layer (approx 1/2 cup) of spaghetti sauce in bottom of 9x13 pan to prevent sticking. Arrange pasta shells in dish. Top with remaining spaghetti sauce then cheese.
7. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

(Cook's notes: you may notice the cheese in the picture doesn't look like mozzarella. YOU'RE RIGHT! I used a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar because that's all I had in the fridge.)