Crockpot Stuffed Shells...

...Each week, I plan dinner for every night. This helps us 1. save money and 2. not eat out so much. I also try to make one new meal, typically from my Get In My Belly board. This week I decided to try out Crockpot Stuffed Pasta Shells.

 

I have to admit that I'm not a fan of crockpot meals where you have to do a lot of prep work. I much prefer a crockpot meal where I just dump everything in the crockpot and 5-8 hours later dinner is done. I also prefer crockpot meals to be 8-10 hours because I'm a working mom & wife so a 4-6 hour meal doesn't work for us unless it's on the weekend.

 

I decided I'd split the work so the night before I did all the preparation. First, I browned the burger and cooked the shells. I got out the other ingredients as well: one egg, ricotta cheese, breadcrumbs and a jar of spaghetti sauce.

I mixed together the burger, ricotta, egg and breadcrumbs.

I poured the jar of sauce on the bottom of the crock then I started stuffing. Here are all the shells in the crockpot. I had a few shells leftover which I put in the fridge. I'm sure my daughter and I will have them for lunch the next couple of days.

After I stuffed the shells, I put the lid on and set the crockpot in the fridge until I was ready to cook them the next day.

The next day, I turned the crockpot on. Added the second bottle of spaghetti sauce and some Parmesan cheese and let the crockpot do it's magic! About 4.5 hours later, this is what I had:

I was so excited to eat dinner that we actually ate about 30 minutes early!

Here's AR tasting...

She likes it! Here she is clapping for mommy telling me, "good job!"

AR kept signing "more, more" and I couldn't get it on her plate fast enough. Matt went back for seconds...and thirds while I was licking my plate clean. It made a lot, as in we'll be eating it all weekend. This is definitely an easy and delicious recipe to make for when the whole family comes over! Happy crocking!

Updated: On Sunday, Matt went hunting. I started making AR's breakfast and noticed a big empty spot in the fridge, the crockpot with the leftovers was gone. I look in the dishwasher, not there. I text Matt. He had taken ALL of them with him to eat while hunting!!!

 

Ingredients

1 box of jumbo pasta shells

1 pound lean ground beef

1 clove garlic

1 15 oz. container of ricotta cheese

1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs

1 tbsp. parsley flakes

1 egg, beaten

2 jars meatless spaghetti sauce

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Bunch of fresh basil

 

Directions

1. Cook pasta shells according to directions.

2. Brown the beef, garlic and parsley then drain.

3. Add ricotta, breadcrumbs and egg.

4. Pour 1 jar of sauce into crockpot.

5. Stuff shells and arrange them in sauce.

6. Top with other jar of sauce and Parmesan cheese.

7. Cover and cook on low 5-7 hours.

8. Top with more Parmesan and fresh basil.

9. Serve with your choice of veggies and garlic bread.

10. Stop drooling and start enjoying this delicious meal!