Jumbo shells filled with cheese, meat, and seasonings, topped with pizza sauce and more cheese

Meat ingredients:

2 lb ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
basil
oregano
garlic, minced
seasoned salt
pepper

Filling ingredients:

1 c shredded cheddar cheese 
1/2 c shredded mozzarella cheese 
1/2 c pizza sauce
2 c cottage cheese
2 T minced (raw) onions
oregano
basil

20 large/jumbo shell pasta
2 c pizza sauce
3 c mozzarella cheese, shredded
oregano 

1. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente. Drain, rinse with cool water, and set aside.

2. Fry ground beef with the chopped onion and a generous amount of seasonings. Drain beef and put into a large mixing bowl.

3. Add cheddar cheese, 1/2 c of the mozzarella cheese, 1/2 c of the pizza sauce, the cottage cheese, the minced raw onion, and more oregano and basil. Stir together to make a wet mixture and then stuff into shells.

4. Lay stuffed shells in a greased 9x13 baking dish. Spoon about 1 1/2 T pizza sauce on top of each shell, using the rest of the pizza sauce.

5. Top with the remaining 2 c  mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle oregano for garnish and bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes or until browned on top.

This dish can be prepared and refrigerated (or frozen) until ready to bake. Be sure to set it out ahead of time so it can be room-temperature when you bake it!

I love this meal!! I like the cheese and tomato sauce, and the seasonings go so well together. It's really fairly simple to make. Sometimes I add green bell peppers when I am frying the meat. Either way, it's yummy! And garlic bread is the perfect complementary food for this recipe! I've also had numerous people comment that the leftover shells, warmed in a pan on the stovetop, are just as good, or maybe even better than the fresh ones. (I think that could be because the flavors have had time to really permeate the food.) Either way, it's a real winner! My rating: 10/10