It's Easy Stuffed Shells with Cottage Cheese for dinner! Jumbo pasta shells stuffed with a creamy cottage cheese mixture, topped with a ground beef pasta sauce, and plenty of gooey melted mozzarella!
⅓cupmilkplus more added by tablespoonful(s), if needed
2cupsshredded mozzarelladivided
½cupgrated Parmesan cheese
1egg
2tablespoonsdried parsley
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and prepare a 9 X 13-inch baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray.
Cook pasta shells according to package directions.
Pour the olive oil into a large skillet and warm over medium heat.
Add the garlic and onion, and sauté until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
Add the ground beef to the skillet and cook until brown.
Pour in the pasta sauce, and Italian seasoning. Simmer on low until ready to use.
Put the egg, milk, cottage cheese, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, and parsley into a blender. Blend until smooth and well combined. It may be necessary to remove the blender from the base to stir with a spatula. DO NOT remove the lid from the blender and stir while blender is on. Also, you may need to add a bit more milk to the contents if you find it isn't circulating well and is too thick. However, be careful not to add too much because then the filling will be too runny and you won't be able to fill the shells.
Place 1/3 of the meat sauce into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
Fill each shell with the filling and place into the baking dish.
Pour remaining meat sauce over the shells and cover the pan with tin foil.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove tin foil and sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of mozzarella over the shells. Return to oven to bake uncovered for another 5 - 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.
Notes
Please be sure to remove the blender from the base before stirring, if needed. Also, do not add too much milk to the cheese filling otherwise, it will become too runny and not stay inside the shells when baked.