Spinach and Ricotta-Stuffed Shells

Cheese and pasta; of course it was good!

Just a cautionary note to those making this dish to serve to vegetarians: be sure to avoid the parmesan, which is made with calf rennet. I will spare you the description of how that is made, but suffice to say, it is not pleasant, especially for the sacrificial calves.There are many cheeses made with rennet, a curdling agent, and vegetarians must be cautious of this. Those who think of cheese as a nice dairy alternative to serve us would obviously not know to be on the look out for it while trying to accommodate us at mealtime, so I thought I'd save you the awkward moment of having a piping hot dish that your guests won't be able to eat. There are parmesan-type substitutes that can be used :) I hope this is helpful!!

I made this for dinner last night and it was very good. I added to it some onion, garlic, thyme and rosemary which I sauteed in a little olive oil. I used part skim cheeses to cut down some of the fat content and completely omitted the Parmesan. I only used about half of the Ricotta. Note: it took close to 25 minutes to fully cook. To the folks who expressed concern with the calorie content in their reviews below: this recipe is SHELLS stuffed with CHEESE! What exactly did you expect? Cracks me up.

I made this a couple of nights ago. First, to say it serves 4 is ridiculous, it could serve a football team, which probably accounts for the high calories per serving. No one could possibly eat 1/4 of this. I thought the recipe was just ok, not great, fairly bland. It was easy to make, however, and the kids ate it, so it still gets 3 stars in my book.

This was really good but I made a few small changes to it. I used the suggestion below and used 1/2 lb ground turkey and reduced the ricotta by half. I also think that sausage or ground lamb would be delicious too although higher in fat. Next time I will wilt my spinach into the turkey because the dish didn't get hot enough to wilt the spinach down once in the shells. Also, I didn't need an entire jar of pasta sauce. I put 1 cup of sauce on bottom of dish and then spooned some on top of each shell before adding the mozzarella. I probably used more like 1/2 or 2/3 of a jar. Lastly, I thought 4 oz of mozzarella on top was too much and 2 oz would suffice. Will definitely make again with these changes.

I think this recipe is delicious and easy to make! I made this with part skim ricotta and a home made sauce - an easy way to control the calories, fat content and sodium in the recipe. Plus, for those who have not made the recipe, the nutrition information is based on a serving size of 5 stuffed shells, which is a pretty huge portion. I served this at a dinner party with a salad. Not one guest ate 5 pieces -- most averaged 2-3. Based on minor adjustments to the recipe, this is a reasonably healthy eating friendly option.

Made this with low fat ricotta, it was super yummy! everyone gobbled it down. seriously people, if you haven't made a recipe, please don't review it.

Holy cow...even if I wasn't conscious of my calorie intake this woud scare me...I think Lowfat ricotta would be perfectly acceptable in this recipe.

Good Grief! 24g of saturated fat per serving! Haven't made this, but of course, it sounds delicious and deadly. I assume that using "skim" and "low fat" would help the fat calorie load, but flavor may suffer. Too bad arteries are so important!!!

LOVED this recipe. Changed things around to make it my "own." Cut the ricotta in half and added 1/2 lb of ground turkey. Instead of spinach I used kale. My husband could not get enough of this dish. Quick and easy and enough leftovers for the next night.