Six Cheese Italian Stuffed Shells

    Ah. Stuffed Shells. Tomato. Spice. Cheese. Six Cheese! Spinach. I do not think I need to go on. This is a wonderful dish. It is my award winning dish. I entered it into the Cache Valley Cheese 2nd Annual recipe contest this winter, and ended up in the top 20. YAY me! I feel what truly sets this dish apart from other  stuffed shells recipes, is the peppers in the sauce. It adds an amazing heat, that can easily be adapted to your personal tastes. I chose to present this as my first post, mainly because it is my husband's favorite. And as you can read from my profile, "everything I do, I do for them." Make this for your Valentine this week. 

Six Cheese Italian Stuffed Shells

To fill the shells, simply spoon the cheese mixture into a heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag; squeeze out the air. Snip a one-inch hole in one corner of the bag, and pipe the filling into the shells.

Serves: 5 servings (serving size: 4 stuffed shells)

Ingredients

• 1  teaspoon  dried oregano
• 1/4  cup  chopped pepperoncini peppers
• 1  (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes with added puree
• 1  (8-ounce) can no-salt-added tomato sauce
• 1  cup  (4 ounces)  Cache Valley shredded Six Cheese Italian cheese, divided
• 1  cup  (4 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2  cup  (4 ounces) fat-free cream cheese, softened
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1  can medium size artichoke hearts, chopped
• 1/2  (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 20  cooked jumbo shell pasta (about 8 ounces uncooked pasta)
• Cooking spray

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°.
Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat; cook 12 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; set aside.
Combine 1/2 cup shredded Six cheese Italian cheese and the next 6 ingredients (through garlic) in a medium bowl. Spoon or pipe about 1 1/2 tablespoons cheese mixture into each pasta shell; place stuffed shells in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spoon tomato mixture over shells; sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes or until thoroughly heated and cheese melts.