A Good Way To Eat Your Greens

In order to spark more interest in the LJ community, Arty Chokes is holding a recipe contest. What you need to do is prepare and submit a vegetarian recipe using mainly greens. I knew I had jumbo shells, frozen broccoli, and a block of cheese in the house. What does that get me? Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Shells!!! Probably not my best recipe because it was dry due to the cheese. Plus I'm not a huge cheese fan. Also, don't always trust the first recipe you get online. I got a cheese sauce recipe from Recipe Zaar where you add the cheese first then the other ingredients. Big no-no. Luckily, I had milk and a giant chunk of melted cheese in the pan, so I used a colander and poured the milk into another saucepan. Then I googled and found several recipes with the same steps. Here you added the cheese last. That Recipe Zaar person got a bad review on her/his recipe.

Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Shells




12 jumbo shells
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups milk
8 oz cheddar cheese, cubed
8 oz frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
1 tsp garlic, minced
Desirable spices, such as black pepper, chili powder, etc.
1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1. Boil water for shells; cook for 10 minutes. Drain and run under cold water. The cold water will keep them from cooking further. This is important because you will be baking the shells later.

2. Preheat oven to 350F. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour; stir. Gradually add milk. Add a few cubes of cheese at a time until fully melted. Stir in broccoli, garlic, and spices. Remove from heat.

3. Assemble shells in the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Fill each shell with cheese mixture. If you have any leftover cheese mixture, fill the gaps between the shells. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on each shell.

4. Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes.

*If you want your broccoli to be soft, cook for a few minutes before stirring into the cheese sauce. Otherwise, they will be hot and crunchy in the shells (the way I like it).

You can also add various veggies to the broccoli - red pepper, carrots, zucchini, etc.

Source: Me! (Cheese sauce - don't remember)