Prego!

This is my pick for jarred tomato sauce. Just the "traditional" jar of Prego. Lately I've been seeing what Rachael Ray cooks on her show and then that ends up being my inspiration for dinner. Even though most of her meals are already quick and cheap, I tend to find a couple more shortcuts here and there. For instance, she made her own marinara sauce (which looked amazing), but since I happen to really love prego, I used that instead. She also used a shallot instead of onions with the spinach, but an onion I had already, a shallot I did not. This recipe was her take on stuffed shells. She uses regular shell noodles (like you would find in shells and cheese) and mixes them in with a cheese/spinach mixture instead of stuffing them, brilliant!

Baked Shells Casserole

olive oil

half of a small onion, diced

1 pkg frozen spinach

1 clove garlic

salt

pepper

ground nutmeg

1 cup ricotta

1/4 cup grated parm

2 cups medium shell noodles

1 cup prego

Cook noodles according to the directions on the box. Heat the oil over medium, sautee onions until translucent, add garlic and stir frequently for one minute. Meanwhile thaw and thoroughly drain spinach. Add spinach to pan with onion and garlic. Turn heat to medium low and just warm the spinach through. Season with a pinch of salt, pepper, and a half pinch (a little goes a long way) of nutmeg. Add ricotta, stir. Add grated parm, stir. Make sure the noodles are well drained and add them to the spinach mixture, mix well. [If you don't have a square casserole dish you really should get one... they are excellent for cooking for two.] Put 1/2 cup prego (enough to just cover the bottom) into a square casserole dish and spread. Add the shells and cheese mixture. Top with the remainder of the sauce and sprinkle a little more parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 just long enough to heat through (or until your way-cute husband gets home from the gym). Keep an eye on the cheese. You want it to brown a little, but you don't want it to burn so depending on how long it is in the oven you may want to cover the dish with aluminum foil for part of the time. Enjoy!