Stuffed Shells in a Crock Pot

It's Wednesday..  

How about a really easy dinner to for the middle of the week?  

I'm sure you'll love it!

I have this obsession with Marinara sauce.  We have some kind of marinara dish once a week.  Sorry husband. :)  Stuffed shells is one of my favorites!  It's easy and only takes about an hour prep and cook time.  However, one afternoon (true story) I had to run all of these errands and I wouldn't be home until five.  Now by five o'clock, dinner needs to be practically on the table.  There is no way my children or my stomach would last if I started dinner at five.  So I tried "stuffed shells in a crock pot."  And it totally worked!  Here it is:

 

Stuffed Shells 

(in a crock pot - I'll post my stuffed shell recipe in the oven later!)

one 1 lb of pasta (bigger is better for this recipe - penne, bowtie, etc. I'm sure you can actually use the jumbo shells like you would if you baked it, but I didn't have them at the time.  But you try, and tell me how it goes!)

one jar of marinara sauce (Ragu Tomato Garlic and Onion!)

one 8 oz. container of cottage cheese

16 oz of shredded mozarella cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1 tsp. of oregano

1/2 tsp of garlic

one egg

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups of water

Crack an egg in a large bowl.  Beat.  Add three kinds of cheeses, and seasonings.  Mix together until well blended.  Cover the bottom of the crock pot with 1/2 cup of water.  Now layer!

1. 1/3 of the bag of pasta on the bottom

2. Top with 1/3 of the cheese mixture

3. Top with 1/3 of the sauce.

Repeat steps 1-3 until all ingredients are gone (should be three layers with sauce ontop.)  Sprinkle on more Parmesan cheese.  Take remaining 3/4 cup of water and pour in. 

Be sure to get the edges and middle. Cover.  Cook on high for 2-3 hours.  It cooks pretty fast so be sure to check it after two hours - and depending on how soft you like your pasta, you might want to cook it longer.

And then maybe add some yummy bread sticks to the meal.  Oooh, I have an awesome bread stick recipe.  That's coming too.