Easy Healthy Recipe: Veggie Stuffed Pasta Shells

Italian Stuffed Pasta Recipe, Tofu Filling, Un-Tomato Sauce

Veggie Stuffed Pasta Shells: Easy healthy delicious Italian pasta recipe, impressive company dish, perfect for nightshade avoiders. Magnifico!

Three-in-one sample recipe from Blissful Bites vegan cookbook, by Christy Morgan

The sauce recipe for the pasta shells is huge, so you could half the recipe. But it's nice to have lots of un-tomato sauce in the fridge or freezer!

Total Prep and Cook Time: 50 minutes

Yield: 8 Servings

Nutrition Data, 313g Serving: 381 cal, 65g carb, 7g fat, 382mg sodium, 9g fiber, 20g protein, 10g sugars, low Cholesterol, high in Vit A, B6, B12, C, K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Folate. Estimated glycemic load 35

Ingredients:

• 1 package (16 oz) large/giant pasta shells
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 cup zucchini, diced small
• 1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
• Tofu Ricotta Cheeze (recipe below)
• Mama Mia Magnifico Sauce (recipe below)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cook pasta according to package directions
3. Heat oil in medium skillet, then sauté zucchini and mushroom until barely limp
4. Turn off heat, then mix in tofu ricotta cheeze
5. Stuff filling into pasta shells (about 2/3 full), and arrange in baking dish
6. Cover with sauce, and bake for 20 - 30 minutes, covered

Tofu Ricotta Cheeze Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 package (14 oz) extra firm tofu
• 1/3 cup fresh basil
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 Tbsp tamari
• 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• Optional: sea salt to taste (SV omitted)

Cheeze Directions:

1. Blend all ingredients in a food processor until well combined and no lumps remain, about 4 minutes.
2. Be sure to scrape down the edges of the bowl to incorporate all the ingredients.
3. Optional: Season with sea salt, and process again for a minute.

Mama Mia Magnifico Sauce Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into large (2 inch) chunks
• 1 medium rutabaga, quartered
• 3 medium carrots, cut in large (1 inch) chunks
• Filtered water
• Optional: 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 Tbsp oil
• 3 celery stalks, diced (small)
• 1/2 cup onion, diced (small)
• 1 Tbsp dried basil leaf
• 1 tsp dried oregano leaf
• 1 tsp dried thyme leaf
• 1 Tbsp umeboshi vinegar (or sherry vinegar)(SV used apple cider vinegar)
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp tamari soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 small beet, grated (2 Tbsp suggested by SV)
• Optional: sea salt to taste (SV omitted)

Magnifico Sauce Directions:

1. Place squash, rutabaga, and carrots in a pressure cooker with water half the height of the vegetables.
2. Add salt (if using), lock lid in place, and bring up to pressure. Cook at full pressure for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat oil in skillet over medium heat and sauté celery, onion, spices and a pinch of sea salt (optional, SV omitted) for a few minutes.
4. Grate the beet and stir into the sauce (SV suggests using 2 Tbsp to start and adding more as needed)
5. Stir in umeboshi or sherry vinegar, balsamic vinegar, tamari, and maple syrup, then set aside.

SV Sauce Recipe Suggestions:

If you don't have a pressure cooker (wonderful time saver, recommended by Christy Morgan, The Veggie Queen, and Savvy Veg), use a large soup pot. It'll take about 30 minutes to cook the veggies very soft.

If you don't have, can't find, or can't afford any of these ingredients, omit and substitute. E.G. apple cider vinegar is a good sub for umeboshi vinegar, which isn't available in a 250 mile radius of my place. And I might skip the rutabaga next time - not my favorite veg, and not always available.

Since oregano is a very strong fierce herb, I reduced the amount to 1 tsp. Go for more if you like oregano a lot!

Go easy with the beet. I suggest grating and stirring in a bit at a time, until the sauce reaches your ideal redness. Remember it'll get redder as the beet cooks. 2 Tbsp would have been enough for me.

When I make this tasty sauce again, I won't think of it as a tomato sauce replica, but call it Red Veggie Sauce or Un-Tomato Sauce or something like that. In our humble opinion, tomato sauce can't be duplicated by using anything but tomatoes.

SV Veggie Shells Recipe Notes:

I felt that these stuffed pasta shells should be baked after assembling, for 2 reasons. They tasted better hot, with the flavors well blended, and the tofu got cooked.

Christie says in her section on ingredients that raw tofu should always be cooked, so I suspect that omitting that step was maybe not what she intended.

I also reduced the sodium, as it was way outside our upper limits. Those reduced amounts are shown in the recipe and the nutrition data. Add more salt or soy sauce to your taste.

We found on testing that this recipe makes at least 8 generous servings, so I upped the number of servings as well.

With or without the changes I made, this is a super delicious recipe, which I highly recommend. I'm really excited about the un-tomato sauce, as nightshades are off my list.

If you want to skip making the sauce, and use a jar of tomato sauce, I'm sure that Christie would forgive you. I certainly would.

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