Another Winner of a Dinner!!

The Food Network website is not my go-to place for recipes. I'm not really sure why, because I love to watch it on TV. But since the flank steak recipe I tried Friday night was so good, I thought I'd try them out one more time. I was in the mood for something Italian, and a good friend of mine has been telling me about his stuffed shells recipe for some time now - so it was time for me to give it a try. I found a great recipe from Giada and I have to say I was really impressed with how good it was! So check out the recipe here and keep reading for a play by play with some tips.

I followed the recipe verbatim, and it was by no means a challenging meal to put together. It did take me about twice as long than the indicated prep time to get everything in the oven, so make sure you give yourself time if you're on a schedule. I think it would be more time efficient if you put the pasta water on to boil and then chop your fresh herbs for the cheese filling and garlic for the sauce, putting the shells in the water when it comes to a boil. Because it takes only 4-6 minutes for the shells to cook, you can use that time to combine all the ingredients for the filling.

Now you should be ready to take the cooked shells from the water and set them out to dry on the baking sheet. While the shells are drying out a little and cooling you can start your sauce. I would recommend using only 6 ounces of pancetta as the recipe calls for - adding more will make your sauce and overall dish too salty. As your pancetta makes its way to being slightly brown and crispy (which is a must - it will just melt into your sauce and the flavor is amazing) you can chop up the garlic for the sauce. Once your meat is cooked up, add your red pepper flakes and garlic, and then your favorite homemade or jarred marinara sauce. Let simmer on the stove until you are ready to use it.

Stuffing the shells was the time consuming part for me. That is until my husband came in and gave me a shortcut - put the cheese filling in a gallon size zip top bag and use it as a piping bag and you will fly right through stuffing the shells. Put the shells in your prepared dish and top with the rest of your sauce.

Top with your mozzarella cheese and bake. While my dish was in the oven I made my own version of Carrabba's herb and olive oil dip and had a small salad. It was a great meal and I will definitely be making it again...but maybe when I'm entertaining next time - I have TONS of left overs!

I hope you'll try this recipe out. It is easy enough to split the recipe in half, or you might even be able to make the full recipe and put it into two separate pans, freezing one before baking. Enjoy and make sure you have some good Italian bread to go with it!!