The Cookbook Club - First Recipe: Mega Meat Stuffed Shells

I was recently invited to take part in The Cookbook Club,  and our recipe for this month was Mega Meat Stuffed Shells from Rachel Ray's 2, 4, 6, 8 Great Meals for Couples or Crowds.  I will start by saying I tend to tweak recipes a lot - for the most part I try to follow them, but from years of baking and experimenting in that realm, it's bled over into my cooking (baking experiments = tasty results, cooking experiments= bland or not-so-delicious results).   

Pre-oven shells

For this, I started by substituting the ground beef with lean ground turkey, which does naturally have a little less flavor than ground beef, but is still pretty tasty.  I also skipped the diced onions, due to Elton's dislike of them.  And my last sub was entirely inadvertent because I don't always follow directions well.  I neglected to add "Parmesan" to my list, so instead it was done with fat-free shredded mozzarella.  In hindsight, I should have balanced the blander cheese and meat with a heartier flavor in the sauce or blended into the meat.

The red sauce turned out quite tasty, though I didn't extract all the red pepper flakes and garlic like the recipe called for (this was more due to my inability to get it all out than a premeditated desire), I think.

The ease of the recipe was great, and it was really fun to try something a littler different - I haven't made stuffed shells in years!  Overall, I really enjoyed this recipe.  I have done a few Rachel Ray recipes before and they have never disappointed and this was definitely no exception!