This is a good, solid recipe. I made just a few minor changes: sauteed fresh garlic with the meat instead of using garlic powder, added a few extra seasonings, and cut the meat down to one pound. As always, I used a little Ziploc baggy with the corner cut out to pipe the filling into the shells. Hassle free! I prepared this early in the day, refrigerated, then baked for dinner. Turned out great. Thanks :)
the recipe is solid but... the cottage cheese has got to go us ricotta
This was great! I used 1lb Italian Sausage instead of ground beef and ricotta instead of cottage cheese. I also just used a jar of spaghetti sauce because I had it on hand. Everything turned out AMAZING! Thank you so much for this recipe I will be making it again!
I used ricotta cheese to replace the cottage cheese. I suggest you use jarred spaghetti sauce and not tomato sauce. Lastly, a quick tip I suggest to all even professional chefs, do NOT par boil your pasta first. If you are making this or manicotti, it is easier to stuff if you do it raw, then add a little watered down sauce to the bottom of the dish and seal it with tin foil. This will a help it cook in much better stuff than boiling water. You can also substitute wine to dilute your sauce.
Absolutely LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this recipe! I made it for my family last night for the very first time - what can I say, it'll definitely be added to the rotation on cooler days! The only things I did differently was substitute spaghetti sauce for the tomato paste and sauce, in addition to substituting ricotta cheese for the cottage cheese. Piping the cheese mixture into the shells by using a baggie with the corner cut off was a brilliant suggestion.
This was delicious and I will definitely make it again! Something I did to make it easier on me, I stuffed the UNCOOKED shells and placed them on top of the sauce mixture stuffed to overflowing with the cheese mixture, put the 2nd half of the sauce layer on top of that. Then I poured 1 cup of water over the top of the sauce and added the cheese last. I covered tightly with foil and cooked for an hour and then turned off the oven and let it sit in the oven for 10 min afterwards. The shells were cooked perfectly and I didn't have an extra pot to clean! I did make this with 24 jumbo shells in a 13x9.
I didn't follow this recipe to exact I did my own version. I didn't use jumbo shells I used smaller sized shells. I didn't stuff the shells with any cheese. I layered the ground beef at the bottom of the pan and then cheese and then the shells and topped it off with more of the sauce with the ground beef and some mozzarella cheese.
This is just what I was looking for in stuffed shells! I love that it uses cottage cheese - healthier! Everyone loved it. It's a keeper! Thanks for posting this recipe.
Good basic recipe. I used ricotta instead of cottage cheese. Also used Kraft Italian blend cheese instead of mozzerella. Used a can of tomato sauce, can of diced tomatoes with sauteed onions and garlic with ground beef. Put all into blender to make an awesome meat sauce. Hubby loved it. We'll be having leftovers for lunch.
