Spinach and Sausage Stuffed Shells

These spinach and sausage stuffed shells are superb, spectacular, succulent, sensational, and above all simple. Seriously... :) This is one of our personal creations. We love it. We've previously made it with ground beef, but let me tell you (and my hips and buns) that sausage is so much better. It's worth the extra calories to add the sausage. Plus, this is a fun red and white themed dish for the Chrismas holidays!

Spinach and Sausage Stuffed Shells

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (12 oz.) jumbo shells, uncooked

1 lb. sausage, browned

2 cups ricotta cheese

4 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 egg

1 tsp. parsley flakes

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. garlic

1-2 oz. spinach chopped

3 cups spaghetti sauce

Directions:

Heat oven to 375. Cook shells according to package directions. Meanwhile, brown sausage in a skillet. Drain grease. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix together cheeses, egg, parsley, salt, pepper, nutmeg, garlic and spinach. Then add the sausage. In a 13 x 9 inch baking dish, spread about 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce or enough to create a thin layer of sauce in bottom of dish. Fill each cooked shell with sausage/spinach mixture. Fill the shell so that it is full, but not bursting. Put each shell in the pan with the sauce. Once pan is full of shells, spread remaining spaghetti sauce over the shells. Bake for 30 minutes. Makes 6-8 servings.

Side note: I always have about 10 extra cooked shells left when making this.