Chicken Chili Burgers February 1, 2010
Posted by elly in chicken/poultry, healthy, sandwiches.11 comments
In keeping with my whole checking-off-bookmarked-recipes theme, I bring to you these Chicken Chili Burgers from Coconut & Lime. I loved the idea of these as soon as I saw them – I am always down for a healthy and different spin on burgers.
These burgers were incredibly easy to whip up, cooked in no time, and tasted great. They really were like having the flavors of chili in a burger. I used a combination of white and dark meat for the chicken, and otherwise just made a couple slight modifications I’ve noted below. I had no problem forming the burgers and keeping them together, but whenever I make chicken burgers or meatballs, I do like to refrigerate the mixture for a little bit before cooking. This is a great way to meld the flavors and also firm them up a bit so you have an easier time forming them and keeping them together.
I know that with the cheese, you don’t get a good look at the burger but you’ll have to trust me when I say it both looked and tasted great. We topped these with green onions, lettuce, tomato, sour cream and sharp cheddar cheese, but they would be delicious with any number of toppings, including the avocado Rachel decided to place on hers.
Chicken Chili Burgers
Adapted from Coconut & Lime
Serves 4
1 lb ground chicken
1/2 cup drained and rinsed dark red kidney beans, very slightly mashed
1 small onion, very finely minced
1 chipotle pepper in adobo
juice of 1/2 lime
1 teaspoon hot Mexican style chili powder (I used 1 tsp. ancho chili powder + 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper)
1/2 teaspoon hot paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper
garnishes of your choice
Blend the chipotle pepper and lime juice together in a blender/food processor until very smooth. Mix together lightly with the chicken and remaining ingredients. (At this point or after you form the patties, I like to refrigerate the mixture for 20-30 minutes to meld flavors and let the mixture firm up a bit for easier handling.)
Form the mixture into 4 patties. Grill or cook in a cast iron skillet over medium heat (or under your broiler) until cooked through.
Pork Chops with Mushrooms, Dill, and Sour Cream Sauce January 28, 2010
Posted by elly in pasta, pork.18 comments
I’m not a new year’s resolution kinda gal, but last year I vowed to get through more saved recipes than I had before, and I did a pretty good job. I thought I would continue that trend to try and whittle down my ridiculous amount of saved recipes. Having recipes tagged by main ingredient in my google reader has made this task quite a bit easier (even if it is a pain to tag them because I save far too many recipes to begin with). I had pork chops thawing in my fridge without a clear use in mind, so I went to my handy-dandy pork tag and came across this recipe from Kevin. I had every ingredient the recipe called for, except for fresh dill. So, it was a go.
Rather than go out and buy the dill, I just added a little more dried dill to the sauce, which worked out great. I also used smoked paprika, because I like the flavor of it more, and that turned the dish into sort of a combination of a paprikash and a stroganoff. Like Kevin, I served this with egg noodles and some spinach for a complete meal but, rather than steaming the spinach separately, I stirred it around the hot pasta until it wilted, to save me some time (and some dish washing).
This meal was easy, quick, and delicious. Not to mention a great way to use up sour cream if you’re like me and tend to over-buy. :) The sauce was perfect over the egg noodles, or just for sopping up in general, and it was such a comforting meal.
Pork Chops with Mushrooms, Dill, and Sour Cream Sauce
Serves 2
Adapted from Closet Cooking
1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 pork chops
1/2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 medium onion, sliced
4 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 Tbsp. smoked paprika
3/4 tsp. dried dill
1 cup beef broth or stock
1/4 cup sour cream (I used lowfat)
salt and pepper
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper and then add to the skillet. Cook all the way through (anywhere from 2-5 minutes per side depending on your chop; mine was bone in and medium thickness and took about 4 minutes per side). Set aside.
Add the butter to the skillet, reduce the heat slightly, and saute the onions until they are tender, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook those about another 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, flour, paprika, and dill and cook until the flour has lost its rawness, a minute or so. Add the beef broth, deglazing the pan and picking up any browned bits. Simmer until the sauce has thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the sour cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Greek Baklava January 26, 2010
Posted by elly in greek, sweets/desserts.29 comments
I seriously don’t know how I have managed to have this blog for over three years and never blog baklava. Surely I have made baklava in that time but it’s always been something I take to work or over to a party, etc. so I guess I never remember to photograph it and write a post about it. This time, too, I made the baklava for my coworker’s birthday. Making a whole tray of baklava for Tom and myself is not really a good idea – in many ways. This way, we still get to steal a couple pieces without going overboard. Plus, I know my coworker’s a big fan, and I figured this would be a different departure from your standard birthday cake or cupcakes. (Last year I actually brought her a Greek walnut cake, karidopita, which I have also apparently never managed to blog…).
Baklava varies by country. Greek baklava tends to just be walnuts, while some other varieties (Turkish, Lebanese, etc.) use pistachios, almonds, etc. Any combination of nuts will be delicious, but I tend to just stick to the basics and go with all walnuts.
Baklava is easy enough to make. I’ve never been a huge fan of working with phyllo, but so long as you work relatively quickly and are relatively patient, it’s fine. In fact, this is one of the easier things to make with phyllo because everything just gets layered so if you tear a sheet here or there, no biggie (and you should have a few extra sheets of phyllo leftover anyway, to replace any casualties). I also keep a damp towel on the phyllo I am not working with, to keep it from cracking/breaking.
Although the layering takes a little time, everything still comes together quite easily as there aren’t many other ingredients or steps. The finishing touch to the baklava is the syrup that gets poured over it, which soaks into all the layers and makes an indulgent, syrupy, delicious triangle of walnutty heaven. I make the honey syrup for pretty much every Greek dessert the same way, which is equal parts sugar, water, and honey. Many people use less honey, but I love honey, so I use a little more. I also don’t add sugar to my filling. Some do and some don’t, but the syrup is sweet enough for me (especially with extra honey) and permeates the baklava, so I don’t think sugar in the filling is necessary. By all means, add a couple tablespoons of sugar to the walnut mixture if you want it to be sweeter, though.
In my opinion, this is best made the day before it’s eaten. The syrup gets a chance to soak in more, and besides, who doesn’t like having a chance to make something in advance instead of having to worry about it the day of?
Greek Baklava
1 lbs. walnuts (add a couple handfuls more if you want it nuttier)
1.5 heaping tsp. cinnamon
1/4 – 1/2 tsp. ground cloves (I tend to go toward the higher end, but it’s about what you want)
1 (16 oz.) package phyllo dough, thawed
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
Syrup
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup honey
1 cinnamon stick (optional)
strip of lemon peel, or a couple tsp. fresh lemon juice
Toast the walnuts, either in a dry skillet or a 300 degree oven, until fragrant. Place in a food processor along with the cinnamon and cloves, and buzz until walnuts are pretty finely crushed (obviously you don’t want a powder, but no huge chunks, either).
Preheat the oven to 350.
Grease a 9×13 pan, and place one layer of phyllo at the bottom. Brush the phyllo with the melted butter, and then add another layer of phyllo, and brush with more butter. Continue this process until you have layered about 7 sheets of phyllo.
Spoon 1/4 of the nut mixture evenly over the top. Repeat the process of the phyllo/butter layering again, but this time only use about 5 sheets of phyllo. Continue the layering of the 5 sheets of phyllo and 1/4 of the mixture of walnuts. Finish off with 7 layers of buttered phyllo (and don’t forget to brush butter on the top layer, too).
Using a sharp knife, cut your baklava into diamonds or triangles (at this point, you can also trim any ragged ends or phyllo that sticks out). I used to do diamonds but mine were always a little funky shaped so now I just do triangles. Place in the oven, and bake for about 50 minutes, until golden brown.
To make your syrup, combine all the ingredients and bring to a low boil. Turn the heat to simmer and simmer about 10-15 minutes. Allow the syrup to cool before pouring over the hot-from-the-oven-baklava. Alternatively, you can pour hot syrup over a cooled baklava. It’s your choice, just remember one has to be hot and the other shouldn’t be.
Chipotle-Honey Glazed Chicken January 24, 2010
Posted by elly in chicken/poultry, mexican/tex-mex.12 comments
It’s no secret that I love chipotles in adobo. Ever since I (finally) found them in the store a couple years ago, they’ve become a staple in my pantry. They’re such a cheap and easy way to add heat and smokiness to just about any dish. One can will typically go toward several meals, and they keep for a decent amount of time both in the fridge & the freezer. As a result, I seem to bookmark pretty much any recipe I see that has them.
I saved this recipe a while back when I first saw it on Tara’s site Smells Like Home. I’ve always thought honey is a great way to balance the flavor of smoky hot chipotles, and the other spices in this (especially cardamom) intrigued me. This recipe definitely didn’t disappoint. The flavor was spot on and the cardamom added such an interesting extra spice.
The method of cooking this recipe originally is on the grill, but I decided to pan-fry the chicken until it was just about done, and then brush on the glaze and put the chicken under the broiler. This allowed the chicken to finish cooking through and the glaze to get that nice caramelized look and flavor. I made 3 chicken breast halves with the amount of glaze, which wound up being pretty perfect. This was so easy to whip up, with ingredients I always have on hand, so it will definitely be made again (and if you’re wondering, those bacon-manchego pinto beans in the background were a lovely complement to this chicken).
Chipotle-Honey Glazed Chicken
Serves 2-3
Adapted from Bobby Flay’s Grill It!
1 chipotle in adobo
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp. dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. ancho chili powder, divided
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp. canola oil, divided
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. Spanish paprika
2-3 chicken breast halves
salt and pepper
garnish – sesame seeds, cilantro, chives, scallions, etc.
Preheat the broiler (if you’re not grilling).
Place the chipotle in a mini food processor and puree. Then add the honey, mustard, 1.5 tsp. ancho chili powder, 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/2 Tbsp. canola oil and pulse to combine. Set aside.
Stir together the remaining ancho chili powder, coriander, cumin, paprika, and remaining 1/2 Tbsp. oil. Add the chicken breasts to the mixture, coating all sides. Season with salt and pepper.
Heat a pan over medium heat (or use a grill), add the chicken, and cook about 3-4 minutes per side. Place the chicken on a broiler pan and brush the top with the glaze. Broil for 1 minute. Flip, brush with more glaze and broil another minute or two until the glaze is caramelized and chicken is cooked through. Top with more glaze (if you want) and garnish as desired.
The baked veggie and brown rice pilaf that made me want to punch a hole in the wall January 20, 2010
Posted by elly in healthy, rice and grains, vegetables.21 comments
The day I made this rice dish, I commented to a few people that I had managed to become completely winded from bending over and picking up a pad of post-it notes that had fallen on the floor.
Well, if being too…err, round…to do that is a problem, then imagine what kind of problems cleaning this up poses:
You’ll notice there is pretty much nothing in this pot and that’s because as I was putting it in the oven, I managed to lose grip of it somehow and all but about 4 grains of rice flew out, all over the oven and kitchen. The lid managed to fly clear across the room. To make matters worse and the mess more difficult to clean, the original batch was actually a doubled version of the one I have posted below, because when I tried my hand at this again the next day (you didn’t think I would actually try cleaning it up and remaking it the same night, did you?), I didn’t have enough rice to make a full batch.
Since the oven had been preheated, the rice and veggies basically started to cook on the door and the bottom of the oven, so there was really no way to clean that immediately without burning myself. And this is one of those times when I remember why I’m not really a fan of hardwood floors in the kitchen. I had to start cleaning those up right away. It took forever, it exhausted me, and well, quite frankly, it pissed me off. I called Tom and asked that he pick up some food on his way home, so pub burgers & fries it was for dinner that night.
And there are *still* remnants of this mess in my oven, trapped in crevices at the edge of the door and completely under those crevices in unreachable spots. I don’t think we will have a brown-rice free oven for as long as we live in this current condo.
Thankfully, when I made this the next day everything went smoothly (except for the whole finding out I didn’t have enough rice thing). This is a nice dish to make because after you get it into the oven (the hardest part for me, apparently), you can forget about it. It cooks evenly, unlike some stove-top brown rices, and if you’re already using your oven to roast or bake a protein, it’s nice to just have both components of your meal in there for pretty much the same amount of time. We had this alongside some roasted chicken thighs, which cooked for roughly the same time since I was baking at a lower temp than normal for roast chicken.
Also, it’s quite tasty. It gets a little bit creamy and the flavor from the chicken broth and bay permeates everything. I’ll definitely be making this again and again, but just making sure I have a death grip on the pot before it goes into the oven.
Baked Brown Rice and Vegetable Pilaf
Serves 2-3
Printer Friendly Recipe
1 Tbsp. butter
1/2 onion, diced
1 small to medium carrot, diced
2 celery ribs, sliced
1 cup chopped mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup brown rice
1 bay leaf
scant 1 cup chicken (or vegetable) broth
Preheat the oven to 375.
In a small or medium shallow saucepan that has a tight fitting lid (or you can use whatever you want and transfer to a small baking dish later), melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, and celery and cook about 2 minutes before adding the mushrooms and garlic. Cook until the vegetables start to get tender but the carrots and celery still retain some of their bite.
Add the brown rice and toast it for a minute or two, stirring everything together. Add the bay leaf, chicken broth, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover with the lid and then place in the oven for 1 hour. Let it stand a few minutes before fluffing with a fork and serving.
Mashed Pinto Beans with Bacon and Manchego (Refried Beans?) January 17, 2010
Posted by elly in beans and legumes, mexican/tex-mex.10 comments
I don’t really like refried beans…or, so I thought.
When I eat at a Mexican restaurant, I’ll typically ask them to substitute black beans (if possible) or just take a few bites of the refried beans on my plate (the bites with the cheese, of course). I’ve just never found them particularly flavorful and I think I’m also a little turned off by the texture. That was, of course, until I made my own refried beans…which I didn’t realize at the time were refried beans.
Drawing up my menu for the week, I wrote this side dish I had dreamed up in my head as “mashed pinto beans with bacon.” This got me wondering how exactly refried beans are made and it turns out that, well, they’re not exactly refried. In actuality, most refried beans call for pan-frying beans in some type of fat (oil, lard, bacon), which is what makes them refried. Well, actually it’s what makes them “well-fried.” According to Rick Bayless, “refried” is just a poor translation. So, it looks like what I’ve made here really are refried beans but with some added flavors, manchego cheese, and I’ve kept the bacon right in there rather than just using drippings. As for the texture, when you make these at home you can control that far better than what you eat when you’re out, so I made mine a little thicker and chunkier. We absolutely loved these, and it’s nice to have a new bean side dish in the rotation instead of eating black beans all the time!
Mashed Pinto Beans with Bacon and Manchego (kicked up refried beans)
Serves 2-3
Printer Friendly Recipe
2 strips bacon, sliced
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2/3 cup chicken broth
1/4 tsp. cumin
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper
2-3 Tbsp. shredded or grated manchego cheese
sliced scallions
Heat a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat and add the bacon. Fry until the bacon is cooked and starting to crisp. If you are using excessively fatty bacon, you may want to pour off some of the drippings. Otherwise, leave everything in there as-is.
To the pan, add the onion and cook until tender. Stir in the garlic until fragrant, and then the chicken broth, cumin, beans, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring the mixture to a light boil and continue to simmer for 10 minutes (or for as long as you want, if you want to time it with your main dish).
Use a potato masher to press down on the beans, and mash to your desired consistency (adding more broth if necessary).
Once plated, top with the manchego cheese and sliced scallions.
Breakfast Cookies January 14, 2010
Posted by elly in breakfast/brunch, healthy.16 comments
Ever on the lookout for a healthy carb to eat alongside my eggs/egg whites in the morning, I came across this Ellie Krieger recipe for breakfast cookies. Certainly if you can eat cake in the morning (I suppose when eaten in the morning it’s called a “muffin”) then you can eat cookies, too.
I liked this recipe because of all the whole grains and the fact that it had nuts and raisins in it. Still, I changed this recipe quite a bit. First, I used pumpkin instead of carrot puree because I had some leftover. I also decided to add more spice to these cookies, because I am always a fan of that (and especially cloves), as well as use some almond extract. To make these even healthier, I subbed half the canola oil for unsweetened applesauce and reduced the amount of sugar overall (but used all brown instead of a mix of granulated and brown, both for taste and texture). As you can see just by my changes, these are incredibly easy to adapt to your taste or preference.
The list of ingredients seems incredibly long, I know, but my assumption is that if you have a well-stocked pantry you should already have all or most of them. I believe the only thing I bought for this recipe was the bran cereal. These cookies are easy to make and a nice way to enjoy dessert for breakfast without feeling at all guilty. They keep quite well and will keep even better if wrapped and stored in the freezer for easy grabbing. I definitely plan on making and freezing a batch of these before the baby comes so I have easy access to some healthy snacks.
Breakfast Cookies
Adapted from Ellie Krieger
Makes 12 cookies
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 heaping tsp. cloves
1/8 heaping tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened or melted (I used Smart Balance 50/50)
2 Tbsp. canola oil
2 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup bran cereal flakes
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup walnut pieces, toasted and chopped
Place rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk together flours, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl.
Combine the butter, oil, applesauce and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on high until sugar has dissolved and mixture is light in color, about 1 minute. Add egg, pumpkin puree and extracts, and beat an additional 30 seconds. Add flour mixture and beat an additional 30 seconds. Add oats, flakes, raisins and walnuts and mix over low speed just until incorporated (you may need to finish this off with a spatula instead of the mixer). Dough will be slightly sticky and less cohesive than traditional cookie dough.
Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Using between 3-4 Tbsp. of batter, form a ball and place on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining batter, leaving about 3 inches between cookies. Wet hands and use palm of hand to flatten cookies until about 1/4-inch thick. Bake for 12 minutes (mine took closer to 14), until cookies are fragrant but still soft. Let cookies cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Winner of the Nigel Slater Cookbook Giveaway January 12, 2010
Posted by elly in misc..add a comment
Pork Chops with Shallot-Apple Cider Pan Sauce January 11, 2010
Posted by elly in pork.16 comments
I guess in some ways, I’m your typical American consumer. Bigger is better, right?
I rarely buy apple cider. Having a warm cup at the cider mill is a must, but actually buying it and drinking it at home is pretty rare. I’m just not much of a juice person. But, when I decided a while back to make a cider gravy, there I was, buying apple cider. And even *knowing* that I’m not a person to just drink apple cider at home, I surmised that I HAD to get the gallon of apple cider because it was on sale, and it was therefore the same price of the half gallon. It’s just logical, right? Nevermind that the chances of me going through a gallon of apple cider are slim to none. Nevermind that I lugged that freaking gallon of apple cider home on the train/walk after work. Not getting the huge gallon would just be stupid. Duh.
Well, as you may have guessed it, I have some extra apple cider. It’s just sitting in the fridge, taking up valuable space. Trying to get through this apple cider is like trying to get through the giant container of sour cream you bought for just one night of tacos. Well, enter these pork chops. I’m not a big fruit and meat person, as I’ve told you many a time. I know that people love pork chops with apples, but I am not one of them. But a sauce flavored with apples? Well, that could certainly work.
And work it did. These were flavorful, just slightly sweet, and so easy to make…even if they did only allow me to use up a mere 1/3 cup of the apple cider. And a note about the cider – you will want to use actual apple cider, the natural kind. The ingredients should basically say: apples. And that’s it. You are reducing the cider after all, so you don’t want to reduce (and therefore increase the flavor) of something that is super vinegary or preservativey (that word is patent pending, thank you).
This makes a little extra sauce, but I like putting it over whatever carb we’re having along with the shallots (in this case, whole wheat couscous).
Pork Chops with Apple Cider Pan Sauce
Serves 2
Printer Friendly Recipe
2 lean pork chops (you can use bone in or out)
thyme
sage
salt & pepper
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. butter
1 large shallot, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup natural apple cider
1/3 cup chicken broth
Sprinkle the pork chops with salt, pepper, thyme and sage (fresh or dried is fine) to taste. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat and then add the pork chops. Cook until done, about 4 minutes per side depending on the size of the chop and weather it’s bone-in or out. Remove from the skillet.
Add the butter to the pan, and then the shallot. Cook until the shallot is tender and then stir in the garlic. Once the garlic is fragrant, increase the heat slightly and add the apple cider. Scrape up all the browned bits on the bottom of the pan, and then allow the cider to bubble away and reduce by about half.
Add the chicken broth and salt and pepper to taste, and let that reduce until the amount of sauce you have left in the pan is about 1/3 cup total. Spoon the sauce over the pork chops and serve.
Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Shells January 8, 2010
Posted by elly in blogging events, italian, pasta, vegetarian.16 comments
Let’s take a break…at least for a while…from all the sweets. I swear, just looking at this blog lately makes my teeth ache, and as for actually eating all the things posted, well, that hasn’t really helped any other part of my body.
One thing I’d like to do more of this year (much to Tom’s dismay) is eat a few more vegetarian meals here and there. Although I do think of pasta as the cliché vegetarian main dish, you have to work in somewhat clichéd ways in order to trick your husband. Not that Tom was fooled by the lack of meat in this dish, but with the mushrooms, spinach, and cheese all in his favorite carb ever–pasta–he certainly didn’t complain.
I don’t really make stuffed shells often because I have never been able to find whole wheat shells (at least, not large ones) at the store. If anyone knows where to find this very elusive whole wheat product, please let me know. I think this will just have to be one pasta product that I eat enriched, albeit infrequently. For the record, the other is orzo. There is something distinctly bizarre and horribly gummy about whole wheat orzo–at least the couple varieties I have tried–so there will be no more of that for a while, either.
I really loved these shells, as I love anything with mushrooms. I think a smoky mozzarella or fontina would add another layer of flavor that would make these even better. I’m submitting these over to Gay from A Scientist in the Kitchen, who is hosting Presto Pasta Night. As I’m sure you all know by now, Ruth from Once Upon a Feast is the creator of PPN and I always look forward to the round-ups!
Mushroom and Spinach Stuffed Shells
Serves 4
Printer Friendly Recipe
6 oz. large pasta shells (about 20-22 shells)
1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
10 oz. (about 3 cups) cremini mushrooms, chopped
2 large shallots or half a medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. dried basil
16 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and drained well
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 (15 oz.) container ricotta (I use part-skim)
2/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese (about 1.5 oz.), divided
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (I use part-skim)
2 cups pasta sauce, jarred or homemade
Preheat the oven to 350. Cook the shells in salted water to al dente.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium. Add the mushrooms and cook until they have released most of their juices. Stir in the shallots, garlic, and salt and pepper. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the moisture from the mushrooms has been evaporated and the shallots are tender. Scoop into a large bowl. After it’s cooled slightly, add the thyme, oregano, basil, spinach, egg, ricotta and 1/3 cup of the parmesan. Mix to combine all the ingredients well.
Pour about 1/2 cup of the pasta sauce into the bottom of a large baking dish. Stuff each shell with 1-2 Tbsp. of the stuffing and place in the baking dish. Pour the remaining sauce over the shells and sprinkle the mozzarella and remaining parmesan cheese on top. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 5-10 more until the cheese starts to brown.
