Hi friends.. It seems like so much has changed since I posted my last recipe 2 weeks ago and some days it just doesn’t seem real. Most of us are stuck at home and for many of us that also means with the kids.. so I was thinking of some kid-friendly recipes that everyone can enjoy for a family dinner and the kids can help make it. These deluxe pizza stuffed shells are delicious.. my daughter loved them! I used my own recipe for veggie pasta sauce which you can find here, it helped keep the points low and I used ground chicken but this dish can easily be made with ground beef or pork if you don’t mind the extra points. Recipe makes 6 servings, each serving is 4 jumbo shells and very filling, 8SP on the blue program, 9SP on green and if using whole wheat pasta it is 5SP on purple. Stay safe and healthy everyone, from my kitchen to yours!
Deluxe pizza stuffed shells
Ingredients
- 24 jumbo pasta shells
- 1 lb ground chicken *weighed raw
- 1 cup diced peppers *I used red & green
- 1/3 cup diced onion
- 2 garlic cloves, diced
- 1.5 cups light ricotta cheese
- Pepperoni slices, I used Ziggy's Canadian brand, 40 slices = 112g , I cut all my slices into 4, you could also use mini pepperoni but I have only found that in the U.S
- 1 cup reduced-fat shredded mozzarella cheese
- 3 tsp italian seasoning
- 3 Tbsp parmesan cheese
- 2 cups tomato pasta sauce *I used my own homemade pasta sauce and I linked it in the opening write up
Instructions
- Cook pasta shells according to the package but minus 2 minutes so they are still slightly firm as they will also cook once in the oven, drain and set aside to cool off a bit.
- At the same time you can cook the ground chicken in a large frying pan, once cooked add in the peppers, onions and garlic.
- Add meat mixture to a large bowl, stir in the ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella, leaving the other 1/2 for topping, 3/4 of the pepperoni. 2 Tbsp parmesan cheese and 2 tsp Italian seasoning, stir everything together well.
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Place 3/4 cup of pasta sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish, I sprayed mine with a little non stick spray..If you try to use a smaller dish all 24 shells will not fit.
- Stuff each shell with the meat mixture and lay out in the dish
- Top with remaining 1 1/3 cup pasta sauce, 1/2 cup mozzarella, 1/4 of the pepperoni, 1 Tbsp parmesan cheese and 1 tsp Italian seasoning.
- Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, let cool for a few minutes before serving, makes 6 servings of 4 pasta shells. This recipe will freeze well.
Notes
Great dish! I forgot to buy ricotta so I used cream cheese and some extra Mozzarella in the filling mix. Even the family loved it and didn’t know it was “healthy” dinner.
Yay, that’s awesome, and I love the addition of cream cheese, yum!