Easy Stuffed Shells

I made this for dinner earlier this week . I wanted to try something Italian but really didn't have the time to make the sauce from scratch and let it simmer in the slow cooker all day. So this is a super simple and quick way to do Italian. I think it took me about 25 minutes to prep and only had to cook for 30 minutes. A delicious dinner in less than an hour! Dave gave this one a rave review. I'll definitely make it again!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 pound ground spicy Italian sausage
• salt to taste
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 box of jumbo pasta shells
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 jars of pasta sauce
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• 1-2 cups Mozzarella Cheese

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions until translucent. Saute garlic for 1 minute and stir in ground beef. Cook until well browned and crumbled. Season with salt and set aside to cool.
2. Cook spinach according to package directions. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add  shells and boil for half of the time recommended on the package. Drain and cover with cool water to stop the cooking process and prevent the shells from cracking.
3. To the ground beef mixture add the cooked spinach and ricotta cheese. When the mixture is cool, add the beaten eggs. Spread 1 jar of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Gently drain the  shells and carefully stuff each one with the meat and cheese mixture; place shells in prepared dish. Lightly cover the dish with plastic wrap or a clean, damp towel to prevent shells from cracking.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
5. Stir the basil and parsley into the remaining spaghetti sauce. Carefully pour or ladle spaghetti sauce over the shells.
6. Top with Mozzarella Cheese
7. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. 

 Source : Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Persimmon Bread

Sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile. I have made some new things but haven't had as much time to post with my new job. I hope to get caught up and then start on some fun holiday recipes.

A consultant from my previous job brought in a huge bag of Persimmons last month. I had never heard of them, but after a quick search on Wikipedia, I found out that they're a berry grown primarily in China and Japan. He suggested that once they ripened I should cut the top off and eat the pulp inside with a spoon. I took a few to humor him, but had no intention of eating this weird fruit.

I didn't want to just throw them out so I did a search for Persimmon recipes and found one for Persimmon bread. The bread turned out really moist and the Cinnamon and Nutmeg flavors really stand out. I have a couple bread making hints; 1. after I spray the loaf pans, I sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar before I add the batter. 2. I know this sounds weird, but I add a couple spoon fulls of sour cream. It doesn't affect the flavor, but it makes the bread super moist. I made a loaf for Dave and his room mates and one for my friends Lindsay and Colin who just recently got engaged (Congrats again!). Colin asked me what a persimmon tasted like and I couldn't give him an answer. He couldn't believe that I never actually tried any of the persimmon before I added it to the bread mixture. I was a little curious but it just didn't look appetizing at all. It makes for good bread though.

Weird tomato-ish fruit = Persimmon

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Ingredients

1 cup persimmon pulp
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2/3 cup water
3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease three 6x3 inch loaf pans.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the persimmon pulp and baking soda. Let stand 5 minutes to thicken the pulp.
3. In a medium bowl, combine sugar, oil, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Blend until smooth. Mix in persimmon pulp and water alternately with flour. Divide batter into the prepared pans, filling each pan 2/3 full.
4. Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. 

 
 Source: Adapted from Allrecipes.com