If you’ve known me for very long you know how much my family and I love Italian Stuffed Shells. Making triple batches of this pasta helps keep us stock-piled for a while or ready to share with other families.
The simple recipe plus the plan for making a triple batch and flash freezing individual shells is contained here: Italian Stuffed Shells
But how do you have them ready when you walk in the door for Sunday lunch? How does this recipe fall into the Fast Food for Slow Sundays category?
The slow cooker of course. Simply pull out, from the freezer, the number of shells you need to serve your family. Douse with spaghetti sauce and turn on low. Maybe put a touch of water in with the slow cooker. Not much – maybe 1/4 cup. Then you’ll have shells, ready to serve for Sunday lunch. All you’ll need to do is add a topping of mozzarella cheese before serving.
Or, if you prefer the traditional way, then defrost your shells in the fridge the night before. Have them ready, topped with sauce and cheese, to pop in the oven when you walk in the door. Need the recipe link again? Italian Stuffed Shells
Another recipe from that red and white checked cookbook.
For more Sunday lunch ideas – that can be enjoyed any day of the week, see Fast Food for Slow Sundays at Habits for a Happy Home or the other recipes posted in the FFSS category.
Kathy @ House of Hills says
October 8, 2011 at 3:24 PMOkay – that’s brilliant. Never thought about flash freezing the stuffed shells apart from the sauce. BRILLIANT I say! Thanks for the idea!
Hodgepodgemom says
October 8, 2011 at 3:39 PMWell, thank you Kathy! But I believe that idea came from a Once a Month Cooking cookbook. And I went pretty bonkers with it. Tripling and making a ton of them and flash freezing. See, stuffed shells are a bit labor intensive I think (though having scooping helpers around is a plus) so making a bunch at once is the way to go! Love to be able to pull out just what we need and still have more in the freezer.
Centsible Girl says
July 14, 2012 at 2:21 PMI do the same thing, I don’t eat these but the rest of the family does so I make as many as I can, usually 2 boxes of shells and then freeze it all and just pull out what we need. If you do it the right way and are careful, you can put them in the microwave, too. I use glass pie dishes (that’s all that will fit in mine!) and they heat that up ! 🙂
PS, it is a TON of work for those esp when I don’t eat them!
Donna Martinez says
June 14, 2016 at 2:04 AMThanks for this delicious recipe, I gonna try this one, hopefully my kids will love it.