Saturday, May 26, 2012

Pinto Pasta shells

Made these tasty little pasta shells last night.  I loved them and know if I don't get them blogged soon, I will forget what I did and I can't have that because I really liked them.
I got the idea from a March 2000 Betty crocker magazine.  Unfortunately for me (for easiness sake) I didn't have the 3/4 cup taco sauce it called for.  However, I ended up doubling the recipe and using all of the sauce I made which was way more than 1 1/2 cups, so I guess it all worked out in the end.  Certainly home made sauce is better than store sauce with preservatives and such right.  It sure was yummy and that is the most important fact when dealing with food.  Especially since nobody but me found the dinner from 2 nights ago even edible.
If making this again, I would probably start with dry beans - 2 cups dried would work well.  I think you'd get a softer bean that would mash better to make the beans a bit more refried which is always helpful for my picky 3 year old.

Ingredients

  • 24 jumbo pasta shells
  • 1/2-1 Tablespoon butter
  • 1/3 cup (or so) diced onion (I had an extra large onion that I used for the sauce, but saved a bit for another part of this recipe.  I'm guessing as to the amount.)
  • 2 cans (15 oz) pinto beans, rinsed and drained
  • 6 oz. cream cheese, softened
  • 1 recipe enchilada sauce (or store bought enchilada sauce or taco sauce)
  • 1 -1 1/2 cups colby jack cheese, shredded
  • handful of crushed tortilla chips
  • Optional sour cream or green onions for garnish (I forgot to pull these out, but they would have went well.)
Directions
  1. Make enchilada sauce according to directions.  Cook pasta shells according to package directions
  2. In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until fragrant.  Stir in the beans, cream cheese and 1 1/2 -2 cups of the enchilada sauce.  Head over medium-low heat until cheese is melted, mashing beans up a bit if desired.
  3. Heat oven to 350.  Spray a 9 X 13 pan with cooking spray.  Fill the cooked shells with bean mixture.  Place shells in the prepared pan.  Pour remaining sauce over the shells.  Sprinkle with cheese and chips.
  4. Bake for 20 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted.

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