stuffed shells

On the weekend, I cooked to celebrate some family birthdays. My mother very kindly hosted, which made the seating thing much easier as there were 15 of us. The shorter children sat in the summer kitchen(sunny mud room)(5 kids there) at the bar and the rest of us sat in the dining nook at the large square table. There are two who don't eat meat, three who don't eat squash, four who don't eat greens, several who said they don't like tofu and one who would eat only meat if you let her.

We had a pork roast, a buttercup and butternut squash mash, a steamed kale, chard and broccoli medley, herbed french bread, a tossed salad and

Stuffed Shells
1 box large pasta shells
500ml tub of soft plain tofu
500ml tub feta, crumbled
package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella, divided
250 ml jar of basil pesto
can of tomatoes


Boil noodles according to the directions on the box. I generally do set the timer for one minute less than the box says so that my noodles are firmer when I'm using them and don't go to mush when they are being baked. drain and rinse under cold water to stop them from cooking.

Combine tofu, feta, spinach and 1 cup mozzarella in a medium bowl.

Get out your favourite 2 quart casserole dish or baking pan.

Using a blender, combine tomatoes and pesto until smooth. pour a bit (1/3 of a cup or so)onto the bottom of your dish and spread it around so your shells won't stick when you start putting them in.

Using a tablespoon, scoop a generous amount of tofu feta spinach mix into each shell. Place them filling side up in your casserole dish.

When your shells are all full and arranged attractively, pour out some of the blended sauce ontop of the stuffed shells. You don't want your noodles swimming in sauce or they'll overcook and but you need to have them covered enough that the tips won't burn, so about half covered, making sure you pour it over the points of the shells, if that makes any sense. It is quite all right to have sauce left over. If you have to reheat for any reason, the extra sauce will come in handy, also useful if you are going to be freezing some stuffed shells for later. the sauce will help the reheating process.

Sprinkle remaining shredded mozzarella over prepared shells.

Cover with foil or lid. Bake at 350 for 1 hour, remove cover and bake ten more minutes to brown the cheese. Remove from oven and let rest for ten minutes or so. This step helps set the cheese and gives it time to maybe not burn the roof of your mouth when you serve it:)

It seemed to be greatly enjoyed and we had very, very few leftovers. A bit of squash and a few stems of greens and three slices of bread and some salad.