My rendition of ham and shells

I am loving this weather; blue sky and crisp air; perfect for walking to my bus. I was running a little late this morning so I had my breakfast on the go.

Since I'm always food focused I was already thinking about dinner...

I had some ham left over and so I found this recipe online that I thought I could tweak a bit to go with what I had on hand.

Ham & Shells Casserole Recipe photo by Taste of Home

Ham & Shells Casserole Recipe

TOTAL TIME: Prep: 40 min. Bake: 25 min.

MAKES:12 servings

Ingredients

·         1 package (16 ounces) medium pasta shells

·         3 large onions, halved and sliced

·         1 tablespoon olive oil

·         1 package (9 ounces) fresh spinach, torn

·         1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

·         1/4 cup butter, cubed

·         1/3 cup all-purpose flour

·         1/4 teaspoon pepper

·         3-1/2 cups fat-free milk

·         1 cup Galbani® Part Skim Ricotta Cheese

·         1 cup crumbled goat cheese

·         2 cups cubed fully cooked ham

·         1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1.    Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, cook and stir onions in oil for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Add spinach and rosemary; cook 1-2 minutes longer or until spinach is wilted.

2.    In a large saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour and pepper until smooth. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat. Stir in ricotta and goat cheeses until blended.

3.    Drain pasta; place in a large bowl. Add the ham, onion mixture and sauce; toss to coat.

4.    Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly. Yield: 12 servings (1 cup each).

 

I soften my chopped onion with the butter called for before added the flour. I added fresh herbs to this.

I diced the ham and set it aside for later.

I made a roux by adding flour to the butter and onions and then whisked in the milk. I waited for my cream sauce to thicken;  stirring often. Since I quadrupled the recipe I added the cheese to the cream sauce in a large bowl off of the heat.

Look who wants to help!

Instead of ricotta and goats cheese I used light cream cheese and mozerella. I also used penne noodles instead of shells.

Once my pasta was cooked al dente I made sure the seasoning was right on my cream sauce before I assembled the bakes.

This needed Salt and lots of pepper!

At this point I realized I had too much sauce compared to noodles so I heated up more water and cooked more noodles. In they went to the mix and then I evenly divided that into 6 cassorole dishes.

I made my own crispy topping for the pasta bakes; Rice Krispies, shredded mozzarella, melted butter and salt. I mixed this up and evenly distributed over each pasta bake.

All done six pasta bakes; one for dinner and five for the freezer. I covered these with Saran Wrap and then tin foil. These should keep for 4-6 weeks in the freezer. They usually don't last that long!

Waiting patiently for Aubrey to be done school!

Now for dessert; oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with pure vanilla courtesy of my friend. I love yummy gifts!

The pasta bake was very creamy but needed a little more pizzaz for my taste but nothing a shot of hot sauce can't fix. Aubrey had seconds which is a very good thing when I have 5 more casseroles in the freezer!