Vegan Stuffed Shells with spinach and almond ricotta cheese

I hope you love  these Vegan Stuffed Shells. They are Crowd-pleasing , famliy and kids approved Savory filling  & rich tasting  oh-so-satisfying !!

 This dish was first introduced to my kids by their cousin as a side for thanksgiving dinner .Its been one of their favorite and I could never really impress them with my version . I think they just gave me a hard time because they love their cousin so much .

That was when we could all eat chesse ...as our diets changed so did this favorite .

I enjoy making it as it a easy one to put together and it also freezes well and makes  for excellent leftovers .I also made the gluten free version with Tinkyada Rice Bran Brown Rice Pasta,Grand Shells  and they turned out great  I had to order them through amazon.To cook them follow the instuctions on the box  . A quick tip - after you drain the GF pasta shells add a little exta virgin oil to them so they don't stick to each other. 

The big difference in my recipe and the others you may have tried is that I cook and season my spinach before adding the ricotta to it . This step makes the dish more flavourful and adds that little oomph to the bland spinach  Believe me its worth the extra pan you will have to clean . 

These make excellent leftovers and will keep for 3-4 days in the refrigerator.

Ingredients

 1 box of Jumbo shells or GF Tinkyada shells 
2 bags of frozen spinach ( 10 ounce , thawed )

 1 tsp organic no salt italian seasoning 

 1 box of Kite hill ricotta cheese 
1 bag of vegan cheese ( dhiya or so delicious )

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
 2 jars of  Pasta sauce 

Directions

 1- Cook the shells according to instructions and after draining add a little extra virgin oil  and keep aside.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2- In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. When hot, Add garlic and seasonig and spinach. Mix well , cover cook for 5-7 minutes on low heat .

3 -Take the cover off , increase the heat to high to help evaporate all the extra water in the spinach. Add salt and black pepper to taste .

4 - Once the spinach cools down add the almond ricotta cheese and mix well .  

5 -In a large casserole dish, evenly spread about 1 cup of the arrbiatta sauce in the bottom. I  used Trader Joe's Arrabiata sauce it adds a little more flavor than your basic marinara sauce ,but use your favorite. Just check the label to make sure it's vegan .

6- Stuff the Shells: Scoop about 2 teaspoons of the spinach ricotta mixture into each shell and place open side up into the baking dish. Repeat until all the filling is used up.

7 - Spoon remaining sauce on top of the stuffed shells, and place in the oven. Cook for 25 minutes at 350 and Enjoy !!