-Vegan Ricotta Stuffed Shells-

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Friends… these vegan ricotta stuffed shells are sooo tasty. I may have even pulled leftovers from the fridge cold and enjoyed them. They are making my mouth water thinking of them. I am going to be real honest and say this is not the quickest meal to make.

If you choose to not make your own sauce then it’s a quick and easy dinner. I will leave that up to you.

Not that the homemade sauce is hard to make it’s just time-consuming waiting for it to do its magic on the stove. What I like about this sauce is you can sneak even more vegetables into your kid’s diets. That is if your kids aren’t uber picky like one of mine.

My picky child would hardly give this meal a side glance. I made him try it and instantly upon touching his lips he didn’t like, insert huge eye roll. He ended up making himself a peanut butter and jelly for dinner because some arguments are just not worth it.

However, my 9-year-old thought this was the best meal ever. I then had to share it with my friends and their kids to get the final verdict if it’s blog-worthy and I got a big thumbs up. So in conclusion, if you have a picky kid I am sorry and I feel your pain. But the overall verdict was this is a regular dinner rotation.

These meals that require a little more time I like to save for special occasions. This one is perfect for Valentine’s day or when guests come over.

This would be delicious with a side of garlic bread, yum and a salad or roasted vegetables.

How do you make these vegan ricotta stuffed shells?

• oil
• onion
• carrots
• celery
• salt +pepper
• canned crushed tomatoes + canned tomato sauce
• dried oregano and basil
• brown sugar
• garlic
• slivered almonds
• nutritional yeast
• lemon juice
• garlic powder
• cashews
• vegan mozzarella
• Jumbo pasta shells

How do you make this?

You’re going to start by making your sauce. Or if you want to shorten the recipe time you can just use your favorite pasta sauce. You will need about 5 cups of your favorite marinara sauce if you choose not to make your own.

Now get a medium, pot add your oil, chopped onion, chopped carrots, chopped celery, and garlic on medium to high heat. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes stirring occasionally until the vegetable softens up a bit.

Add the remaining sauce ingredients to the pot, and stir until combined.

Put a lid on the pot and bring it a low simmer, cook for 20 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked. Once cooked take an emersion blender or carefully a regular blender and blend the vegetables so the sauce doesn’t have large chunks in it, set aside.

While the sauce is cooking boil the water for the shells. Cook the shells according to the package instructions, mine took about 10 minutes. Once cooked strain and set aside.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Take a 9×13 pan and lightly grease it.

While the noodles and sauce are cooking you can make the Ricotta. Take your high-speed blender or food processor and mix all the ricotta ingredients, except the cashew parmesan and vegan mozzarella. Blend until it still has some chunkiness to it but not big chunks. Look at the picture.

Once blended stir in your vegan cheeses until mixed and set aside.

Take your shells and fill them with the ricotta mixture. The amount will depend on the size of your noodles.

Take your 9×13 pan and pour about half of the tomato sauce and spread evenly to make a layer of sauce. Then take the filled shells and place them evenly in the pan/sauce, then cover evenly with the remaining tomato sauce.

Sprinkle with vegan cheese if desired. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

I have a really tasty vegan cashew parmesan cheese I use in this recipe, I always have this made up in my fridge ready to go. You can make this one or buy a vegan parm, whatever works for you. This recipe is in the recipe below.

Vegan Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Yield: 5 -6 servings

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

These vegan ricotta stuffed shells is stuffed with an amazing almond ricotta. It's simple to make and will please a crowd.

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Ingredients

Tomato Sauce Or skip this and use store bought

• 1 TB olive oil
• 2/3 cup onion, chopped
• 2/3 cup celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup carrots, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 14 oz cans crushed tomatoes
• 1 14 oz can tomato sauce
• 1 1/4 tsp basil, dried
• 1 1/4 tsp oregano, dried
• 1 tsp brown sugar

Ricotta

• 2 cups slivered raw almonds
• 1 TB nutritional yeast
• 2 TB lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 tsp oregano, dried
• 1 tsp basil, dried
• 1 cup vegan mozzarella
• 1/2 cup vegan cashew parmesan *recipe below*

Pasta

• 20 shells Jumbo pasta shells
• sprinkle salt for water

Instructions

1. Start by making your sauce. In a medium, pot add your oil, chopped onion, chopped carrots, chopped celery, and garlic. Cook on medium to high heat for 8 to 10 minutes stirring occasionally until the vegetable softens up a bit. Now add the remaining sauce ingredients, stir until combined. Put a lid on the pot and bring it a low simmer and cook for 20 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked. Once cooked take an emersion blender or carefully a regular blender and blend the vegetables so the sauce doesn't have large chunks in it, set aside.
2. While the sauce is cooking boil the water for the shells. Cook the shells according to the package instructions, mine took about 10 minutes. Once cooked strain and set aside.
3. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Take a 9x13 pan and lightly grease it.
4. While the noodles and sauce are cooking you can make the Ricotta. Take your high-speed blender or food processor and mix all the ricotta ingredients, except the cashew parmesan and vegan mozzarella. Blend until it still has some chunkiness to it but not big chunks. Look at the picture. Once blended stir in your vegan cheeses until mixed and set aside.
5. Take your shells and fill them with the ricotta mixture. The amount will depend on the size of your noodles. Take your 9x13 pan and pour about half of the tomato sauce and spread evenly to make a layer of sauce. Then take the filled shells and place them evenly in the pan/sauce, then cover evenly with the remaining tomato sauce. Sprinkle with vegan cheese if desired. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes.
6. **If you don't want to make your own pasta sauce you can use your favorite store-bought sauce. This recipe uses about 5 cups of sauce.
7. Cashew Parm recipe
8. 3/4 cup raw cashews
9. 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
10. 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
11. 3/4 teaspoon salt
12. Mix all ingredients into a food processor or small blender (like a twister Blendtec) and process until it’s a little finer than cornmeal.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1 serving
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 770Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 19gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 981mgCarbohydrates: 109gFiber: 13gSugar: 12gProtein: 30g

The calories are computer generated and may not be 100% accurate.

Altered recipe from Mels Kitchen- https://www.melskitchencafe.com/cheesy-ricotta-stuffed-shells/

Altered recipe for ricotta from – https://minimalistbaker.com/whipped-almond-ricotta-5-ingredients/

<3 Courtney

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