Stuffed pasta shells

I am a planner. An organizer. I have more than one label maker and I'm not afraid to use them. My hospital bag is already packed and ready to go. I am starting to plan ahead by gathering recipes for dinners that I can pre-make and have available while I recover after giving birth that A) I can prepare ahead of time B) freeze and thaw well and don't taste like they were ever frozen. My Mom was so great about bringing us dinner for a week after Devon was born and I am hoping to ease the burden off myself and have meals prepared ahead of time to get us by for a week or so. I don't have a lot of freezer space, but I hope that I will be able to freeze SOME dinners so I don't have to be on my feet cooking. Cooking can be a struggle when Devon is this little so it is magical when I can get dinner put together while he's napping and pop it in the oven right before we eat. This is one of those recipes. It reminds me of lasagna, but SO much easier to make with a similar (maybe even better) flavor. I don't eat leftovers (like .... NEVER), but this dish is almost better the next day.


INGREDIENTS:
2 10-ounce packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed
15 ounces ricotta cheese
1 cup (about 4 ounces) grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or 2 teaspoons dried, crumbled
3 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and pepper


3 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce *(I make my own sauce and skip buying a jar of it. SO worth the minimal extra effort)*
32 jumbo pasta shells, freshly cooked
Additional grated Parmesan

*I didn't take any pictures after I put the sauce on top. It just looked like a pan with sauce ... not a great picture.*

PREPARATION:
Squeeze spinach dry. Transfer spinach to large bowl. Add ricotta, 1/2 cup Parmesan, fennel, basil and garlic to bowl. Season mixture with salt and pepper; blend.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spoon 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce evenly over bottom of 9x13x2-inch baking dish. Fill each pasta shell with spinach mixture. Place shells, filling side up, in dish. Spoon remaining sauce over shells. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan. Cover loosely with foil and bake until heated through, about 30 minutes. Serve, passing additional Parmesan separately.

FOR FREEZING:
Line the pan with foil THEN ladle on the sauce, stuffed shells and cover with sauce and cheese. Freeze the food overnight in the pan. Remove food from the pan, cover with foil, write down oven temp. and cook time on the foil as well as what's inside. When you're ready to eat just pop the whole thing back into the pan, let it thaw, cook and voila! The foil helps to keep the mess to a minimum so you don't have to even wash the pan. If you are making this dish for someone else you don't have to give them your pan (with the hassle of having to get it back) and you don't have to buy a disposable one. How awesome is that?!?

Let me just say that I am not a fan of spinach. I have tried to get into it, but I just don't like it. I SWEAR you can't taste it at all and there is a lot of it in here. Devon inhaled this for dinner and even had it for lunch the next day. Joe loved it as well and told me I couldn't freeze any to save for later because he was going to eat the rest of the pan by today. It was a hit!

If you get a chance I would love to have yummy, freezable ideas to add to my growing list if you have any. (No soup or sea food please) I need leftovers people! Please send them my way to gotyoga@hotmail.com

So far I have:
stuffed pasta shells
spaghetti sauce
lasagna
shepherd's pie
enchiladas