Cheesy Chicken Shells + homemade ricotta!

Cheesy Chicken Shells, Broccoli, Salad
Serves 4
9 points per serving (Plus salad dressing)
Approximate cost for this recipe:$8

1/3 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
3/4 cup part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 cup frozen spinach, thawed and chopped
I used one 10 oz bag of fresh spinach that I blanched, squeezed all the water out of and chopped.
4 oz. cooked boneless, skinless chicken breast
I used chicken that I had cooked in the crockpot all day.
1 3/4 cup part skim ricotta cheese
I made homemade ricotta! Recipe below. I used 1 1/2 cup.
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cup tomato sauce
12 uncooked jumbo pasta shells
broccoli
salad

Cook pasta shells in boiling water according to the package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water to prevent them from cooking further. Set aside on waxed paper or foil to prevent them from sticking to each other.

Coat a 9 X 13 pan with cooking spray. Spread 1/2 cup of sauce evenly over bottom of pan and set aside.

In large bowl, stir together egg whites, ricotta cheese, chicken, spinach, garlic powder and oregano. Stir in 1/4 cup each of parmesan and mozzarella cheeses.

To assemble, spoon cheese mixture into shells and place filled shells in a single layer in the 9X13 pan.
I am a little in love with my digital kitchen scale so I weighed the filling and determined that each shell would have 2 oz. of filling. FYI
Spread remaining sauce on top of filled shells.
Sprinkle with remaining cheeses.
Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

One serving is 3 stuffed shells, broccoli and salad

What we thought~
Roger loved it. But he worked late and had hardly eaten anything all day so he was just happy to eat.
I loved it! Amber and Heather were so right about this recipe. In fact, it was so good it was a little dangerous for me. I had an extra shell. And even though 3 were plenty, they just tasted so good I could have easily eaten 6. Or more. For my own lunchtime protection I froze the leftovers in portions of 2 shells.
Kenzie loved them.
Emily did not love them. She didn't like the spinach and she said there was too much cheese in them. I was expecting this. She doesn't like lasagna either.
Jaxon loves broccoli and didn't seem to notice that there was anything else on his plate.
We will definitely be having these again.
By the way, I think they would be just as delicious without the chicken.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

I saw the recipe for this in the May 2009 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine and thought it was INCREDIBLE that you could make ricotta cheese! Then I started looking around on the internet and discovered that, as usual, I am late to the cheesemaking party. People are doing it all the time. I had no idea!
So I made some. Here's how.

You'll need
8 cups of whole milk
I used 2%
1 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1)Line a large strainer with 4 layers of cheesecloth and place lined strainer in a large bowl; set aside.

2)In heavy bottom 4 quart saucepan, heat milk and salt to boiling on medium high heat, stirring occasionally to prevent milk from scorching.

3) Stir in lemon juice; cover and remove form heat. Let stand 5 minutes.

4)Carefully pour contents of pan into strainer lined with cheesecloth. Drain 3 minutes. Discard whey (the liquid that strained off).

5) If not using right away, transfer ricotta to clean bowl, cover and refrigerate up to 1 week.

What we thought~
SOOOOO EASY! I actually doubled the recipe because I needed more ricotta cheese (to double the cheesy chicken shells recipe).
Using 2% milk, I got 3 cups (1 1/2 pounds) of ricotta cheese. I think that you get more cheese if you use whole milk but we're cutting back on fat around here. Have you heard? ;)
You end up dumping about 3/4 of a gallon of whey down the drain. I saw a few ideas on the web for using the whey but I didn't go there this time. Maybe next time. Sorry Miss Muffet.
Even though that seems a bit wasteful, when you consider that I paid only $1.50 for the gallon of milk, that makes some pretty cheap ricotta cheese.
The flavor was only slightly better than store bought ricotta. A little creamier. Not quite as gritty.
But I love that I can just whip up some ricotta and save a buck if I want to.