Now that's it's starting to feel like fall (some days anyway...today it's 73 degrees out!), I've been wanting to cook homey, comfort food. Stuffed shells came to mind, and I was going to make the regular kind, but then I found this great recipe for squash-stuff shells from Prevention magazine. Even *more* fall apropos!
I made this recipe as is, but used fat-free ricotta instead of regular and a bit less breadcrumb. "Chunky" pasta sauce was nowhere to be found, so I went with a cabernet marinara sauce. The shells were surprising easy to prepare, and the result was yummy! I think the sauce was a bit strong-tasting for the subtleness of the shells...were I to make this again I might actually just dress them with a little olive oil. But this was perfect for fall, and definitely comforting. And you can eat 6 of these babies for only 400 calories, probably fewer since I used the light ricotta.
I paired the shells with some swiss chard. Tore the leaves off the stems, sauteed in a bit of olive oil and coarsely chopped garlic over medium heat. Although the leaves looked wilted (like spinach) after 3 or 4 minutes, the chard was still chewy until cooked for another 10 or so. Added some water every once and a while to keep it moist, and seasoned at the end with kosher salt.
Sorry guys, no picture this time. It was delicious, but not very pretty!
And men-folk can eat 12 shells for 800 calories...like I did...
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