Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Shells

I make menu plans every week, to help me grocery shop and be somewhat organized for the week. But I usually only follow it for a few of the days. We get invited over to eat with family, I get lazy, I forget to buy a key ingredient, life happens. So I just push whatever meals I missed to the next week. These stuffed shells have been on my list for a while, and I have been pretty excited to try them out. They were tasty, got good feedback and I would make them again with a few changes that I have included below.

Veggies and cheese get blended to look like a green smoothie!

That green smoothie looking mixture gets stuffed into al dante jumbo shells

And placed face down into a puddle of marinara sauce

Top with more marinara, add some cheese and cook until bubbly

Yum!

20-25 jumbo shells, cooked al dente

Filling:

1 cup spinach or kale, chopped

1 cup cottage cheese (or ricotta- I just don't keep that around)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1/4 cup italian style bread crumbs (optional, it just gives it more substance)

1 egg

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp italian seasoning

1/4 mozarella cheese

Sauce:

2 cups seasoned marinara sauce

1 cup shredded veggies (zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, carrots, or a combination)

1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (for the top

Mix all sauce ingredients together. Pour 1 cup sauce into 9X13 pan, set aside. In a blender, combine all filling ingredients except mozzarella cheese. Blend until combined, add an extra egg if it is too thick to blend. Mix in mozzarella cheese with a spoon.  Spoon green mixture into shells and close a little before placing face down into pan. Cover shells with remaining sauce. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over shells and place in preheated oven. Cook at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until cheese on top is bubbling.