Make-Ahead Unstuffed Shells

photo by:kraft

My family loves this recipe! I served it to guests one time and they were impressed. It's up a notch from noodles and sauce - very good.

posted by

Mangeons

on 4/19/2013

time

prep:

30 min

total:

1 hr 15 min

servings

total:

6 servings

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What You Need

cups medium pasta shells, uncooked

lb. extra-lean ground beef

jar (24 oz.) marinara sauce

tub (10 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Italian Herb Cooking Creme

1/3

cup chopped fresh basil

1/4

cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

1-1/2

cups KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese with a TOUCH OF PHILADELPHIA

Make It

COOK pasta as directed on package, omitting salt. Meanwhile, brown meat in large skillet; drain. Stir in marinara sauce; simmer on medium heat 2 min. Remove from heat.

DRAIN pasta. Mix cooking creme, basil and Parmesan in large bowl; stir in pasta. Spread half the meat sauce onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray; cover with layers of pasta mixture and remaining meat sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella; cover with foil. Refrigerate up to 24 hours.

HEAT oven to 375ºF. Bake casserole, covered, 40 to 45 min. or until heated through, uncovering after 30 min.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Family Fun

Spend time with your family by preparing this meal together and enjoying a walk afterwards.

Special Extra

Cook 1 each small chopped onion and green pepper along with the meat.

Variation

Casserole can be baked immediately after assembling. Just reduce the baking time to 30 min., uncovering after 20 min.

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btcwags

posted:10/9/2012

Fantastic and easy!

KatyG77

posted:10/4/2012

I love this! I used Italian herb and cheese cooking cream and it turned out great! It gave it more flavor! I cook for two people so we had dinner for 2 nights! I highly recommend this recipe!!!

SarPar

posted:9/18/2012

My family loves this so much that they request it if I haven't made it in a while. It's easy, especially if it's made ahead of time, it's filling, everyone eats, and there's leftovers for lunch the next day. I usually add extra Philly cream cheese to make it creamier- it's awesome.

carriecooks1

posted:8/22/2012

My kids loved this dish! They called it lasagna explosion! The noodles were very creamy with the Philadelphia spread. I even used ground sausage. Will surely make again.

a cook

posted:8/1/2012

My family LOVES this. I do add more marinara sauce to suit my taste. So good.

jane3331

posted:7/30/2012

Delicious flavor! I was so pleased with the result. I made this recipe for a group and everyone had seconds. I will add this recipe to my group of favorites.

happywife09

posted:7/24/2012

I made this recipe and I have to say, it was really good! I actually used a regular 8oz size of cream cheese instead of the cooking creme and it turned out great! Very easy and pretty tasty! I would recommend this recipe!

ACreech2001

posted:6/20/2012

I substituted the Italian Herbs and Cheese cooking creme for the original and omitted the parmesan and basil. I also increased the mozzarella to 2 cups to ease the measuring and the pasta to 1 lb. These alterations didn't effect the quality of the dish but made the prep that much easier.

faith3665

posted:6/10/2012

Great recipe! And easy to make! I did use a jar and a half of the marinara sauce. Just as good as lasagna!

Mainoh

posted:4/24/2012

This was delicious. I did not add basil as I do not care for the taste. To compensate, I added a bit of green pepper and a couple shakes of seasoning salt. I will definitely make it again.