Mmm ... Monday: Stuffed Taco Pasta Shells

This recipe comes to us from 101 Things to Do With Ground Beef, by Stephanie Ashcraft and Janet Eyring. My husband and I made it last night, and it was truly delicious! And not too difficult to make, either. I would have made it all by myself, but the noodles were too hot for me to handle and it was getting later on in the dinner hour, so Bryson filled the noodles for me. In any case, they were really good, it made a ton of food (enough for two helpings of leftovers), and it didn't require a lot of ingredients (always a plus).

So here it is!

Stuffed Taco Pasta Shells

1 pound ground beef
1 envelope taco seasoning mix (I use a low-sodium version)
1 3/4 cups salsa, divided
1 package (12 ounces) jumbo pasta shells, cooked and drained
1 1/2 cups grated Mexican-blend cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large frying pan, brown ground beef until no longer pink. Drain if necessary. Stir in the taco seasoning and 3/4 cup salsa; simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Fill cooked jumbo pasta shells with 1 tablespoon meat mixture. Lay stuffed shells in bottom of a greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Spoon remaining salsa over shells; top with cheese. Cover pan with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes, or until hot and cheese has melted. Makes 6 to 8 servings.


That's it. Now, here are a few things I would note about this recipe and possibly tweak a bit. First off, it made way more than the 9 x 13-inch dish could hold, so we had to put the over-flow in another dish and bake that as well. If you wanted, you could always do two 9 x 9-inch dishes and use different salsa on top of each one for varying degrees of heat or flavor. Oh, and speaking of salsa, I would definitely use more salsa on top of the shells; I think it helps keep them moist and adds more flavor to the recipe.

I guess that's it. I took pictures of the shells, but either they were just really un-photogenic or I was being a crappy food photographer. In any case, I decided this would be better without a picture. Hope you're okay with it! If you end up making this and get a good picture, feel free to send it to me and I'll add it to the post!

Have a wonderful day!