Saturday, September 03, 2011

Cheesy Chicken Shells

Tonight I made these cheesy chicken shells. I found the recipe on Weight Watchers and tweaked it just a small bit. So like always, here's the recipe and then pictures will come...

Ingredients
12 shells(s) uncooked jumbo shells (I cooked a whole 12oz box of shells and used 3/4 of it, but I know I made more then the recipe calls for)
1 1/2 cup(s) canned tomato sauce (I used 2 cups tomato sauce this time but next time I'll use spaghetti sauce)
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1 3/4 cups part-skim ricotta cheese (I used a whole 15 oz container which I know is not much more then the suggested amount but it is)
4 oz. chicken breast, roasted without skin, diced
3/4 cups chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained of excess water (I didn't use this because it wasn't thawed)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp ground oregano, or other Italian seasoning (I used Italian seasoning)
3/4 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/3 cups grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook manicotti shells in boiling water according to the package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water to prevent them from cooking further. Set aside.
Coat a 9x13-inch pan with cooking spray. Spread 1/2 cup of sauce evenly over bottom of pain and set aside.
For filling, in a large bowl, stir together egg whites, ricotta cheese, chicken, spinach, garlic powder and seasoning. Stir in 1/4 cup each of mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.
To assemble, spoon cheese mixture into manicotti shells and place filled shells in a single layer in baking dish. Spread remaining sauce on top. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses and bake about 30 minutes.

 (Above) The noddles after cooking...waiting to be filled...
(Below) The mixture that would become the filling. Next time I'll add salt and pepper to this mixture.

 (Above) The shells cooking in the oven.
(Below) Ready to be ate now.


Overall these were pretty good. I will do some things different next time. Like I'll add salt and pepper to the mixture and I'll use spaghetti sauce. They are not going into my recipe box just yet as I'd like to make them again sometime and change the few things I want to change and see how that turns out.



2 comments:

Unknown said...

These look super yummy, i never thought to use chicken with them , but im trying this out .. thanks

Hope we can follow each other =]

AudreyO said...

We love pasta with chicken. Tonight we actually had pasta with spinach and shrimp.