Waste Not
By katsmeow1213
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
United States
May 22, 2008 5:23pm CST
I've made stuffed shells tonight, and have a lot of left over ricotta cheese mixture as well as cooked shells.
Is there anything I can do with these short of tossing them away? I'd hate to waste so much food if I can re-use it in another dish.
2 responses
@GreenMoo (11834)
•
23 May 08
I don't know what a stuffed shell is! Another English / American difference I guess!!
Can they not just be kept in the fridge for another meal or for a snack later? I'm guessing that if they're based on ricotta cheese they will keep OK.
As for the chees itself, how about using it up in a salad or adding to a sauce?
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
24 May 08
Yes. It really is delicious.
Don't you eat italian meals over there? Honestly, what sorts of meals do you eat? I couldn't imagine not having known stuffed shells or meatloaf.
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
23 May 08
You are so deprived. No meatloaf or stuffed shells? What on earth do you eat over there? lol
Stuffed shells are one of my favorite foods. Basically you take some ricotta cheese and jumbo shells. Fill the cooked shells with the cheese, cover with pasta sauce and bake. I add egg, parsely, parmasen, and a bit of mozzerella to my ricotta before I stuff. It's similar to manicotti or cheese ravioli, just a different type of shell.
@jerzgirl (9232)
• United States
22 May 08
The ricotta cheese, which is very much like cottage cheese, could be mixed with frozen whipped topping (like Cool Whip) which would then be mixed with the Jello/gelatin flavor of your choice for a quickie jello salad. You could also stir in at the same time a matching or coordinating drained fruit of your choice. Possibilities are: Lime Jello with pineapple, cherry or raspberry jello with drained fruit cocktail; orange jello with drained mandarin oranges.
The uncooked shells could be broken up and used in homemade soup or added to a pot of homemade macaroni and cheese as part of the pasta therein. Or even in with any other one-pot pasta dish that uses smaller pastas other than spaghetti.
Enjoy!!
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
22 May 08
Thanks for the ideas. I'm not so sure about the Jello with ricotta... but soup for the shells.. why hadn't I thought of that?
@jerzgirl (9232)
• United States
23 May 08
Yeah, I don't know about the ricotta either - I know I use cottage cheese in those jello salads and I use cottage cheese instead of ricotta in lasagna, so I'm just assuming the reverse can be true, too. There are some desserts I've seen that call for ricotta that make like a cheesecake blend for tarts and pies. That might also be an option.
