Italian Sausage and Artichoke Stuffed Shells

Before today's recipe, I had never made stuffed shells.  Yes, this week we had a lot of pasta....and artichokes! Yesterday's Spaghetti used marinated artichokes, this recipe uses canned artichoke hearts.  We had two leftover sausage that I wanted to use up, and this recipe only needed two sausage....perfect! I knew the kids wouldn't eat the artichokes so I made them some ravioli but again, gave them the each 1/2 of a stuffed shell to try.  I ended up using jarred spaghetti sauce (something that I rarely use).  Overall, this dish was tasty, but a bit time consuming.  Definitely not a quick week night meal!

Italian Sausage and Artichoke Stuffed Shells
recipe slightly adapted from The Captivating Life

Ingredients:
1/2 jar of spaghetti sauce, divided
1/2 a box of Jumbo pasta shells
2 spicy Italian sausages, finely chopped
2 canned artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, diced
Penzys Pasta Sprinkle
Olive oil
1 1/2 cups of ricotta cheese
1 egg
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Salt and pepper

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a large baking dish. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta shells until they are al dente. Drain and set aside. Put the tomato sauce in a saucepan and heat through.

Fry the garlic, Italian sausage and artichoke hearts in olive oil over medium-high heat. Sprinkle Penzys Pasta Sprinkle, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook until the sausage is browned and then drain the fat.

Mix the ricotta and egg together until it is smooth. Add some salt and pepper and a ladleful of tomato sauce and mix well. Add the sausage mixture to the ricotta and combine everything together well.

Put a thin layer of tomato sauce on the bottom of the greased baking dish. Stuff the shells with a couple of tablespoons of the filling and set them on the tomato sauce in the baking dish.

Cover the shells with the remaining tomato sauce and then sprinkle them with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is nicely browned.


Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up!

Spaghetti with Bacon, Brussels Sprouts, and Artichokes

This dish has some of my favorite ingredients.  Bacon, yes please, anytime!  I've started cooking a lot more with brussels sprouts and I'm a big artichoke fan.  So I was very excited to try this.  I was smart in setting aside some plain spaghetti before I added the brussels sprouts and artichoke mixture to it.  I gave the kids a small scoop to try and then gave them plain spaghetti with butter, bacon, and parmesan cheese.  Of course they ate it up!  They both ate all of the "try" portion though.  The original recipe yielded 2 main servings or 4 side dish servings.  I ended up doubling the recipe so we'd have enough leftovers for lunches.  This was a quick and easy dish and very tasty!

Spaghetti with Bacon, Brussels Sprouts, and Artichokes
from Lauren's Latest

Ingredients:
1 lb. spaghetti
8 slices thick sliced pepper bacon
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 lb. brussels sprouts
12 oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts
1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
salt, to taste

Directions:
Bring large pot of water to boil. Salt water and add in pasta. Cook to al dente, drain and set aside.

In the mean time, in a deep skillet, cook bacon slices to your liking. Drain on paper towels. Pour off excess bacon grease leaving 2 tablespoons. Saute onions, garlic, brussels sprouts and salt until tender, about 5 minutes. Chop bacon slices into smaller pieces. Stir in artichoke hearts, bacon, hot pasta and cheese. Toss together, taste and adjust seasonings.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.