Every now and then, I’m asked to bring a meal to a neighbor who recently had surgery or to a young couple who has just had a baby or to a family from our church needing help. I like helping out this way because whenever I prepare a meal for someone else, I double the recipe so it becomes dinner for us too.
For this purpose, I developed an easy recipe for Italian Sausage Filled Pasta Shells—with only five ingredients. I deliver these casseroles frozen so that the recipients can bake them whenever they need a meal. Along with the frozen casserole, I sometimes drop off ingredients for a salad and a loaf of French bread too
Italian Sausage Filled Pasta Shells
This recipe makes two casseroles which is great because I can give one away and save one for us.
1 package (12 oz) large pasta shells (There are about 44 shells in a 12-oz. package and you will need only 34 to 36 of them but I cook them all because a few get broken during cooking.)
2 lb sweet (mild) Italian sausage
10-oz. container refrigerated Alfredo sauce
1 jar (3 lb) tomato pasta sauce
16 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
Cook pasta shells according to package directions; rinse with cold water. In large skillet, cook sausage; drain. Stir in Alfredo sauce.
Spoon about 1 heaping tablespoonful meat mixture into each cooked shell. Place filled shells into 2(9x9-inch) sprayed foil baking pans. This time I used one foil pan and one glass baking dish because I was going to bake that one right away for us and so had no need to waste a foil pan.
Spoon sauce mixture evenly over stuffed shells in each pan.
Cover with foil and freeze.
Thaw completely before baking. Bake at 375°F. for 30 minutes. Sprinkle cheese over top and continue to bake for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
4 to 6 servings per pan.
