I came up with these Veggie & Three Cheese Stuffed Shells after coming across the new Red Lobster® Cheddar Bay Biscuits in box mix form! Have you seen these in your local grocery stores? I did a little happy dance when I came across them, because, while I have tried some of the “copycat” recipes, they are never quite as good. I am not a huge seafood fan so Cheddar Bay Biscuit are the sole REASON I go to Red Lobster®. They are that good!

I needed to come up with a great pasta dish to pair with these babies, because I thought it might be a bit socially unacceptable to just eat cheddar biscuits for dinner. 😉 I do have to say, I was rather impressed with the box mix though. I didn’t expect them to be as good as the real deal at the restaurant, but they really came close, fresh out of the oven!

After sitting for an hour or two, they weren’t quite as good, but I doubt there will be many sitting that long, with how good these hot buttery biscuits are!So, with that said, onto the dish that goes wonderfully with these cheddar biscuits, Veggie & Three Cheese Stuffed Shells. You can never have too much cheese, right? Pasta shells stuffed with vegetables and lots of yummy cheese, topped with marinara, makes a wonderfully filling vegetarian dish!Try and be a little smarter than me when making these and don’t fill half of your shells with the veggie cheese mixture before realizing you forgot to include the egg. Womp, womp! So I dumped them out and started again.

Without the egg for a binding agent, these puppies would have spread and melted all over the place into unrecognizable stuffed shells. And don’t even get me started on the two shells that made it to the floor instead of the pan. I tell you, I was definitely struggling this particular night. But hey, learn from my mistakes and take your time!

Vegetable & Three Cheese Stuffed Shells - Lavibu

Ingredients

20 jumbo shells cooked this allows for a couple extra ‘fails’

1 jar marinara

2 c. 1% cottage cheese

1 c. parmesan cheese

1.5 c. shredded cheddar divided

1 c. zucchini shredded

1 c. carrots shredded or matchstick

2 c. onions diced

1 large egg

2 tsp. Italian seasoning

1 tsp. garlic powder

salt & pepper to taste

Steps

Preheat your oven to 350°.

Start by dicing and shredding your vegetables. Squeeze your zucchini in a paper towel to release the excess moisture.

In a saute pan over medium-high head, add your onions carrots and cook for a few minutes until tender, to that add the zucchini and continue to cook for a few minutes until all the veggies are cooked through.

Remove veggies from the heat and add to a large bowl with cottage cheese, parmesan, 1 cup cheddar, egg and seasonings.

In a greased 9×13 pan, layer 1 cup of the marinara sauce.

Start stuffing each shell with 1/3 c. of the veggie and cheese mixture. Arrange in the pan over the marinara. After all the shells are in the pan, layer another cup of marinara over the top. On top of that, sprinkle 1/2 c. shredded cheddar.

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes.