Baked Stuffed Pasta Shells

For the first time ever, I tried to make my own baked stuffed pasta shell, using this recipe as a guideline. Unfortunately, I overlooked the most important ingredient...ricotta cheese. I didn't realize just how big a part this one ingredient played until it was time to cook dinner and I really looked at the ingredients. And it was either this or starve as I didn't have anything else prepped. And since I cook dinner for my pops, starving wasn't an option. So I made it my own way, using different cheeses that were on hand. Here's what I used:

12 oz jumbo pasta shells

6.70 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded (Reserve 1/4 cup)

1.65 oz provolone cheese

3.75 oz mild goat cheese

6 Costco meatballs, chopped

3 oz baby spinach, chopped

4 large eggs

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried sweet basil

24 oz spaghetti sauce

1 oz Parmesan cheese, grated

(The spaghetti sauce and shells that I used).

First, I cooked the pasta shells to just over al dente (not shown).

Then chopped up the 6 meatballs.

Added in all the cheeses. In the end, it wasn't oozing with cheesiness so I will add a LOT more cheeses the next time I make this.

Added in the 3 oz of chopped baby spinach.

Mixed in 4 eggs, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp garlic powder and 1 tsp dried sweet basil.

Placed a thin layer of spaghetti sauce on bottom of baking pan, then stuffed shells and placed them neatly in a row. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough stuffing to really stuff the shells AND I still had some leftover shells. -_-

Anyhoo, then covered the stuffed pasta shells with a layer of more spaghetti sauce and topped with 1/4 cup of the reserved mozzarella and parm cheese.

Covered loosely with foil and baked in preheated oven of 375°F for 40 minutes.

It was pretty good, though, not so cheesy as I would've like it. I definitely want to make this again with a lot more cheeses and with ricotta cheese. I might just use this same recipe and just add a pound or so of ricotta cheese to the mix. Next time, I really want the pasta shells to ooooze with cheesy goodness. And yes, my dad loved it. Lucky for me, he ain't picky. If he doesn't like something, that's when you know the food is really bad.