Stuffed Shells with Pasta Sauce

After I canned spaghetti sauce without meat, I noted that there were two containers of cocktail tomatoes that I got from Backyard Farms during their Open House which I forgot to include in the batch for processing. And so I thought I'd make a sauce out of it and use it for our meal the next day.  There was probably about 2 lb of them. And just like how I made my spaghetti sauce, I roasted them then strained and boiled until reduced to half the original volume. Meanwhile, I chopped 3 cloves garlic, 2 medium onions, and a stalk of celery. I sauteed these in some (home-canned and -rendered leaf) lard, then added the tomato sauce, some salt and pepper to taste, basil and oregano to taste. I also boiled a whole box of jumbo macaroni shells (I should have boiled only half of it because I ended up with a lot of leftover shells.) until al dente, then rinsed right away with cold water to stop cooking.

My son's hands were shaking
when he took the photo

Then I mixed 1 lb pre-cooked ground beef (only added salt and pepper to it then I let it cool down) with 8 oz softened cream cheese, 1 egg, chopped red and green bell peppers (half each), salt and pepper to taste. I used a big cookie scoop to stuff the macaroni shells with this mixture.

Close up

I pre-heated the oven to 350°F. I placed a thin layer of the pasta sauce on a 9x13 pan the placed a layer of stuffed shells on top. I spooned some more pasta sauce atop the shells, and baked this for 30 minutes, adding grated cheddar cheese right after taking out of the oven. I served this with garlic toasted bread and Parmesan cheese on the side.

Hit with everyone!