A long awaited yummy meal!

As well as all of my holiday baking today (see below) I also made a pretty tasty dinner today with some yummy homemade quick bread. My Husband really liked this one and I thought it was pretty tasty too!

Basil Cheese Bread
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter or margarine
1 cup grated, sharp cheddar cheese
1 ½ tablespoons dried basil
1 tablespoon grated onion
¾ cup milk
1 egg, slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease well a 9x5x3” loaf pan.Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cheese, onion and dill weed; mix well. Combine milk and beaten egg; pour into flour mixture and stir just to moisten. Turn into prepared pan. Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan 10 minutes and turn out onto wire rack to cool


Stuffed Shells
1 tbsp olive oil
8 oz white button mushrooms, sliced
1/4 sweet yellow onion, diced finely
1 15 oz ricotta cheese - I used low fat
1 egg
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded (divided)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated (divided)
1/2 cup of fresh spinach, chopped
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (divided)
1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
1/2 tsp dried basil
Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste
1/8 tsp nutmeg
3 cups of tomato sauce
12 jumbo pasta shells, cooked per instructions


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the mushrooms and onions and sauté until golden brown (about 5-6 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl combine the ricotta, 1/4 cup of the mozzarella, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan, the egg, the spinach, 1/2 the parsley, fresh basil, the nutmeg, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly then add the mushrooms and onion sauté and combine. Taste mixture and re-season if needed.

Pour 1/2 cup of marinara in the bottom of a baking dish that has been coated with cooking spray. Place the 12 cooked shells in the pan. Stuff each shell with the ricotta and mushroom mixture.
Pour the remaining sauce over the stuffed shells. Add the last 1/2 cup of mozzarella and 1/4 cup of Parmesan. Sprinkle the dried basil on top.