Busting Through the Stereotypes

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Here at Iamthemessychef Inc. we have very strict rules about equal rights.  Employees are encouraged to contribute regardless of age, sex or mental ability[1].  We refuse to perpetuate the stereotypical family ideal where the Dad does all the cooking and cleaning and the Mom goes off to work all day.  In our house the women are required to help with the domestic chores on a regular basis.  Even Eden is starting to find her way[2] into the cooking activities.

In this installment the girls are making Maddy's fav dinner, Stuffed Shells.  As a "pinch hitter" chef the Mrs. does a great job with this recipe.  Look for future guest blogs from her with such favorites as Chicken Piccata, Chinese tofu stir fry and peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches.  As you can see from Maddy's ingredient list this recipe is a precise and detail oriented job that requires many cooking techniques.

Actual Ingredients:

1/2 box pasta shells
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (shredded)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (shredded)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic chopped
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 egg
1 jar tomato sauce

Optional Ingredients[3], [4]:

1 box frozen spinach
6 slices prosciutto

Preheat Oven to 350. Cook shells according to package directions. Cook prosciutto in pan until it begins to firm up [5].

Add oil, spinach and garlic to pan and cook for 2-5 min until spinach is reduced and garlic is fragrant, add salt/pepper and move to bowl to cool. In separate bowl mix together 3 cheeses, egg and nutmeg with a spoon. Add cheese mixture to the spinach mixture and fill shells. Line the bottom of a baking dish with sauce and put shells on top. Sprinkle sauce across the top of all shells.  Bake for 25 min or until thoroughly heated.


Serve hot out of the oven.



















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[1] Clearly mental ability is not a prerequisite for writing a blog
[2] By "find her way" I mean scream, push and flail until she is in the center of whatever is going on at that moment.  Think you can stop her? She scoffs at your bravado.
[3] Also actual ingredients.
[4] Note that The Madster does not eat things with spinach or prosciutto which might be the same with your 6 year old so feel free to leave this out and skip the parts that talk about cooking these ingredients.  I am confident that one day you will not need reminding of this.
[5] I was searching for a better way to say cook it a little until it starts to brown but doesn't get too hard and doesn't burn.  3 min tops.