Cheesy Taco Stuffed Shells

This is another recipe where I've seen a lot of variations going around the internet. Unlike my Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken recipe, I was actually willing to try some of the others I've seen out there. And... once again, still stuck with mine. I found some others to be too dry or too much of one particular ingredient. We love spicy food in my house, but you have to be careful on this one. You'll be surprised to know that I use the "mild" version of things. Because there are so many different elements in this that have varying levels of spicy flavor, you have to be careful that your end result isn't burning the taste buds out of your mouth. We learned that lesson the hard way!

I sometimes serve this up with some Spanish Rice, but usually just serve it alone. It's so filling by itself that you normally don't need anything to go with it. Some good topping suggestions are sour cream, avocado, tortilla strips, or green onion.

A little trick I use to judge how many shells to cook is to lay them out in your 9x13 casserole with extra room around each and then use that many.

Cheesy Taco Stuffed Shells

• Author: Kara - Sweetly Splendid
• Prep Time: 30 min
• Cook Time: 15 min
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 12 1x

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 12oz Jumbo Pasta Shells
• 1lb Ground Beef
• 8oz Reduced Fat Cream Cheese
• ¼ cup Taco Seasoning
• ½ cup green chiles
• 1 ½ cups Salsa (I use my homemade salsa)
• 1 bottle Taco Sauce (I use mild)
• 1 cup reduced fat Sharp Cheddar Cheese

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Cook the jumbo pasta shells to al dente according to package instructions.
3. Drain and set aside to cool.
4. In a large skillet brown the ground beef.
5. Once the ground beef is fully cooked, add the taco seasoning and green chile, mix to combine.
6. Add ½ cup of water and the cream cheese. Continue to stir until the cream cheese has melted and it is fully incorporated. Remove from heat.
7. Pour salsa in the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish.
8. Stuff the shells with the meat mixture and place in the casserole dish open side up.
9. Continue until all shells are stuffed and casserole dish is full.
10. Pour the taco sauce over the top of the shells being sure that each shell has a little taco sauce on top.
11. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes. Top with any toppings you desire!

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Notes

WW Green Points: 7 for 4 shells (using 96% ground beef)

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1/12 of recipe
• Calories: 230
• Sugar: 5
• Sodium: 680
• Fat: 6
• Saturated Fat: 3
• Unsaturated Fat: 0
• Trans Fat: 0
• Carbohydrates: 31
• Fiber: 2
• Protein: 12
• Cholesterol: 26