Stuffed Shells

I did not plan ahead this week, instead my goal was to be creative with the food that we already had on hand.  This plan only worked until Wednesday, I then had to go to the grocery store!  But, my freezer and cabinets did inspire a few good meals.

Monday - Stuffed Shells
I had a box of rice shells that had been taunting me. I was intimidated by stuffing shells for some reason.  But, I pulled them out and showed them who was boss!  Much easier than I expected.

One box of rice noodle shells - I found mine at Whole Foods

Filling

• 1 box of organic x-firm or firm tofu, with water pressed out
• 3 artichokes from a can 
• 1/2 bag frozen spinach (thawed and water squeezed out)
• 1 TB nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp oregano or Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in the Vitamix or similiar and blend away.  Put in a bowl so you can use your blender for the cream sauce if desired.

Sauce

• Either your favorite marinara sauce, and / or  a cream sauce (adapted from Plant Based Nutrition pg 241):

• 14oz silken tofu
• 1/4 cup unsweetened soy milk
• 2 TB lemon juice
• 2 TB nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp kelp powder

Put all ingredients in Vitamix or similar and blend away!

• OR: you could try the Cashew Cream Sauce I made in this post - I am going to try this next time.

Preheat oven to 350. I used two bread pans, because I made two different types of sauces.  KID TIP - sometimes make things especially for them.  I told Si I was making her's red, because I knew she loved red sauce, and Ry's was special because it did NOT have the red sauce.  It was easy to do, and I was experimenting to see which I preferred.

After you have cooked the pasta according to the box directions, put a thin layer of your sauce on the bottom of your baking dish.  Get your spoon ready, and start stuffing those shells. Place filling side down into the sauce in the pan.  Repeat until you are finished.  Then, spoon sauce over the top of your shells.  I sprinkled mine with nutritional yeast also.

Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes.

Si liked hers, Ry said they were ok, I liked both of them.  I do want to try the Cashew Cream Sauce next time!  And, I would have loved a little red pepper flakes in the tofu filling, but the girls would not have liked that.