Stuffed Pasta Shells

I put on my thinking cap while shopping at Hy-Vee and came up with an Italian dish.   I'm trying to incorporate more turkey in our lives since it's healthy and less points for Weight Watchers.  

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground turkey browned and drained
1 bell pepper, diced
1 yellow or vidala onion, diced
1-2 cups of diced tomatoes
1-3 tsps minced garlic
1 cup of marinara sauce
1 box of jumbo pasta shells
1-2 cups of low-fat mozzarella cheese

I started off with cooking the onion and garlic in a skillet.   I added the bell pepper to the mix. 

I put the browned turkey in a large bowl with 1/4 cup marinara and let that sit. 

I cooked the shells so they were partially done as I needed them to be a little rigid for stuffing and they finished cooking through in the oven. 

When the veggie mixture was done, I added that to the browned turkey in the large bowl.  Combine everything well.   I also added some freshly diced tomatoes at this point.  

I put a little bit of marinara down in the glass baking dish so the shells wouldn't stick to the bottom as they baked.   I stuffed each shell with turkey/veggie mixture and set it in the bowl.   The filling tended to fall out of the shells easily but it still worked out to have them all crammed in the 9 x 13 baking dish.  I spread the extra filling all over the shells and sprinkled more diced tomatoes on top too.   I also poured the remaining marinara over the dish to help keep things moist. 

I sprinkled mozzarella cheese over one half of the dish for Jon and kept the other side plain for myself.   I baked it uncovered for about 20-30 minutes. 

I plan to add mushrooms the next time I make it.   Meant to include mushrooms this time but somehow forgot.   The dish heats up well too and made a good lunch this week.  

I'm going to make a similiar dish with manicotti at some point but will probably use very lean ground beef in that recipe. 

Enjoy!