This is a great kid friendly, freeze safe, meal-prep comfort food recpie. The great thing with this dish is you can add whaever meat you want to it, you could do it with chicken, beef or turkey.
Equipment
2 9x13 baking (ovensafe) dish
Ingredients
18 to 20jumbo pasta shellscooked to al dente
1tspmsg
1tspKinders Italian seasoning
1tspgarlic powder
1tsponion powder
1tspBadia Complete seasoning
1/4tspdried oregano
¼tspdried parsley
8ozcottage cheese
15ozricotta cheese
1large egg
1/3cupparmesan cheeseshredded
4cupsshredded mozzarella cheese
2cupsrotisserie chickenshredded
30ouncesalfredo sauce2 jars or 2 1/2 cups
2cupsmozzarella cheese
2tablespoonsdry parsley
Instructions
Cook the pasta shells according till al dente. (Mine took about 5 minutes.)
Put the cooked pasta in an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 375°.
Prepare the stuffing for the shells by combing half the motzerella cheese, ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, egg, and chicken.
add in the seasoning to the stuffing.
place the stuffing mixture into a piping bag (or Ziploc bag with a hole cut into one of the corners).
Spoon a few spoonfulls of alredo sauce into the bottom of two 9x13 baking dishes and spread evenly.
Fill each shell with the chicken/cheese stuffing and place into the two baking dishes. Top the shells with the remaining alredo sauce and motzerella cheese.
Cover each baking dish with tinfoil. Place into the preheated oven (375°). Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove tinfoil and bake for an additional 3-6 minutes to brown the cheese.
Serve immediately and enjoy!
Notes
We use manicotti pasta tubes because we wanted to use what we have but you can use jumbo pasta shells as well. It's great with both.
Personally, we love to add chicken to our dishes or a source of more protein to make this last longer. Also if you don't want to use Ricotta cheese you can substitute it with cottage cheese of your choice.
Sams Club and Costco have excellent rotissery chicken but this recipe can also be done with boneless skinless chicken breasts for a healthy alternative.