If you’d like an idea for what to do with your fresh herbs, or if you’d like a new meatless meal idea, keep reading for more on this Real Food Wednesday… (Be sure to check out all the new posts at Ann Marie’s blog, as she’s hosting Real Food Wednesday this week! Add YOUR Real Food post!)
Kent & I are having a blast with our first garden.
I love that he gets into it as much as I do, maybe even more. He takes such good care of it, so much so that he really would probably rather I stay out of there. Since we had the nasty SNAKE sliding through last week, I’m OK with that. (However, I was in charge of fertilizing with some fish poop stuff we got from our all-natural guy – notice how big all our plants are? OK, so maybe his watering and weeding had more to do with it…?) Thankfully, Joe was home when the snake showed up – he got it out and 
threw it down into the woods while I bravely screamed from the deck. Believe it or not, I was still a big girl when I needed to harvest some spinach yesterday for this recipe. I checked the perimeter, got in, clipped it off, and got the heck out.
Besides the spinach, we also used our OWN fresh herbs in this recipe, right from our pots on the deck. I can’t believe how exciting it is to eat what we’ve grown ourselves, and hope we don’t ever take this for granted.
4-Cheese Stuffed Shells
- I started with my homemade yogurt cheese. We had some extra raw milk last week (from a friend who was on vacation) so I made 3 batches (using a half-gallon of yogurt each), but 2 batches would have been plenty for this recipe.
I mixed in the spinach that was ready in our garden, along with a big bowl full of our herbs: parsley, 2 kinds of oregano, basil, and thyme. I tore everything into small pieces.- I added 4 garlic cloves and another 1/2 t. of garlic powder. (Kent thought it was a bit heavy on the garlic, he’s a garlic wimp, though.)
- 1 1/2 t. sea salt
- 1/4 t. pepper
- The yogurt cheese was a touch too sour for my family (I knew it wouldn’t fly), so I also added 1 1/2 t. palm sugar to take the edge off and it worked perfectly – everyone ate it! (Our 10 year old didn’t like all the herbs, though…can you believe that?!)
- Mix all this together well, and spoon it into cooked, jumbo pasta shells – one box is plenty, trust me. It makes a lot. (Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to find whole wheat jumbo shells. We don’t eat pasta a lot these days anyway, though, so I don’t worry too much about it.)
Set them into a buttered 11 x 14 stainless steel or glass baking dish. (Avoid aluminum or Teflon whenever you can.)
Pour 1 1/2 jars of your favorite pasta sauce over the top, or use your own if you’re lucky enough to have some put up from last summer.
Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. I already had some mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan shredded, so that’s what I used.- Bake at 375* for about a half hour, or until it’s bubbly and the cheese is golden brown.
- It tasted really good! Let me know if you like it.
- More Meatless/Vegetarian Meal Ideas to help with the budget.
- An oldie but a goodie…What do Christmas pictures of our home have to do with Health & Nutrition? What does any of it have to do with size 7x underwear? I connected the dots all right…yes I did.
- 10 Tips for Building a Healthy Immune System!
- Have you read these posts about natural parenting?
- This post is part of the Food Roots, Favorite Ingredient Friday, Friday Feast, and Finer Things Friday blog carnival!
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Organic and Thrifty 07.15.09 at 2:42 am
Oh Kel, that filling looks AMAZING! Being 50% Italian (and having made my family’s herb-cheese raviolli recipe since I was a tot), I heartily approve!!!!
To make it more low-carb, might I suggest wrapping that deliciousness with thinly sliced “sheets” of zucchini?
Then, I’d cover with marina and cheese, just as you’ve indicated! I don’t know for sure how it’d work, but I would love to try it (I’ll let you know!!!!)
Oh, and your garden looks incredible. How much space do you have back there?!?!
Also, you’ve inspired me to go find fish poop fertilizer! I’ve been making my own concoction (compost tea) that smells something awful….I tend to think the more like sewage it smells, the better it is for the garden? Gosh, I hope so!
LOL
Carrie
http://www.organicthrifty.com
Organic and Thrifty’s last blog post..Introducing Organic and Thrifty DOT COM!
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Henriette 07.15.09 at 4:10 am
Looks so great – I thinki t might be worth breaking my no grain diet
for this
Thanks
Henriette’s last blog post..Nina Plancks REAL food for mother and baby
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Local Nourishment 07.15.09 at 8:00 am
It’s a good thing I read this post early in the morning while I still have time to get some ingredients on the shopping list. If I’d read it right before dinner I’d be so disappointed that whatever I cooked didn’t measure up to this mouthwatering feast!
Now you’ve gone and made me hungry.
Local Nourishment’s last blog post..The ADA gets an “F”
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Dawn 07.15.09 at 8:06 am
That looks so delicious! My daughter must eat gf, so we use Tinkyada Brown Rice Shells. They taste exactly like regular shells, no difference! Thanks for the recipe
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Mary Ellen 07.15.09 at 12:27 pm
Yum! Can’t wait to try this recipe. We eat several meatless meals a week to stay in budget and combat the extra expense of buying grass-fed beef and pastured pork. Plus, I have plenty of fresh basil growing on our porch.
Mary Ellen’s last blog post..All You Grocery Challenge
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Mary Ellen 07.15.09 at 12:27 pm
Yum! Can’t wait to try this recipe. We eat several meatless meals a week to stay in budget and combat the extra expense of buying grass-fed beef and pastured pork. Plus, I have plenty of fresh basil growing on our porch.
Mary Ellen’s last blog post..All You Grocery Challenge
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lo 07.15.09 at 12:42 pm
We love stuffed shells — and I’m thinking the herbs really make this recipe!
Enjoy that gardening! I always think maintaining a garden is well worth the work. It pays off with dividends!
lo’s last blog post..Pizza with Figs, Bacon, and Blue
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Kelly 07.16.09 at 12:10 am
Henriette, don’t break your no-grain rule, just use Carrie’s idea – thanks, Carrie, I think that would work GREAT!
Dawn, I wish I liked brown rice pasta (I’ve tried Tinkyada and others), but I just don’t, I’d rather use the zucchini idea.
Kelly
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Living A Whole Life 07.16.09 at 6:49 am
Awesome recipe idea – I can’t wait to try it!
Living A Whole Life’s last blog post..Super Simple Body Butter
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Alyss 07.17.09 at 4:52 pm
This looks fantastic! I think I’m going to try it with zucchini noodles soon. Yum! thanks for the recipe!
Alyss’s last blog post..Of Probiotics and Pickles
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angie 07.17.09 at 8:38 pm
garden looks great and meal sounds wonderful
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Nicole Feliciano 07.17.09 at 10:41 pm
Happy Friday! Gorgeous work this week. I hope you’ll stop by my Friday Feast link/recipe exchange and share this recipe.
http://momtrends.blogspot.com/2009/07/friday-feasts-couscous.html
Nicole Feliciano’s last blog post..Black & Decker 100W Power Inverter
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Meg 07.18.09 at 12:29 am
I usually do basically the same thing (I use my homemade goat ricotta, which avoids that “sour” taste), but I save some steps and just make lasanga… We actually made some a few weeks ago (in the middle of our zucchini rush) where we subbed thinly sliced zucchini for the noodles – SO tasty!
Meg’s last blog post..Titus 2 Thursday: Going crazy and wanting to go back to work?
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Betsy 07.19.09 at 8:17 pm
Ha, Meg! I was just thinking that I’d try this with the zucchini, and make it lasagna style. I’m thinking it will be a little less work than stuffing shells, but same taste.
Yummy-sounding recipe, Kelly!
I just bought some fishy fertilizer, too. I bet it would do the plants more good if I actually put some in the garden, though.
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Nicole Feliciano 07.19.09 at 10:39 pm
Thanks so much for linking up to Momtrends’ Friday Feasts. Hope to see you again next week!
Nicole Feliciano’s last blog post..Girlfriend Getaways
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Dawn 07.20.09 at 8:01 am
The suggestions for zucchini for the shells sounds great as well. I will try it this way, too!
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Nicole 07.21.09 at 8:16 pm
stuffed shells is what I make for friends
I’m making baked pasta tonight, with similar ingredients, but cannot seem to sneak anything green in. My kids like veggies, but hate when I put green stuff into lasagne. I think tonight I’ll try putting it in the sauce instead. Funny I remembered your yogurt cheese and was going to make that, but I also bought fresh ricotta so I can use that instead. Zucchini or eggplant sheets in this would be yummy, kids are still a work in progress on my “eat real food, mostly vegetables” plan.
Nicole’s last blog post..Moving to the Broccoli Forest
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Kelly 07.21.09 at 10:57 pm
Hi Nicole, yes, kids can be tricky to get the veggies in them, but thankfully they do love butter and real cream, etc., which are probably more important than veggies anyway.
It’s always such a thrill when we do get something by them, though!
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Amy @ Finer Things 07.22.09 at 3:11 pm
That looks delicious, and I agree… having a garden is a Finer Thing!
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Overwhelmed With Joy! 08.28.09 at 6:04 am
Yum! I love stuffed shells.
Thanks for sharing.
I hope you’ll join me again this Friday for another Favorite Ingredients Friday!
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