Vegan Stuffed Shells

Stuffed shells and pretty much any Italian food that was doused in cheese was a favorite of mine back when I ate dairy. Since going vegan, I haven't had to give up any tasty foods because there's literally a plant-based substitute for EVERYTHING. This is the second time I've made these stuffed shells and they're really simple and easy and can be modified in so many ways! I stuffed mine with a tofu/vegan cheese mixture but you can really stuff with any kinds of plant-based cheese, veggies or even faux meats. Here's my version, feel free to switch it up if you'd like by adding other "stuffings" into your shells! This recipe makes two full dishes of stuffed shells so you can indulge on and share one dish for dinner and then have leftovers throughout the week! If you don't want that much (I mean c'mon though, who doesn't want that much?!), just divide the recipe in half :)

Ingredients:

1 box of pasta shells
2 jars of marinara sauce (make sure it doesn't contain any milk)
1 package of tofu
1 bag of daiya mozzerella cheese shreds, or another type of vegan cheese
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
Pepita parmesan


Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

Cook pasta shells according to package directions on your stovetop, usually about 10 minutes in a boiling pot of water with a little salt. Drain and rinse with cold water so they don't stick to one another. Put aside.

Open and drain your package of tofu, and empty into a large bowl. Use your hands or a fork to crumble tofu into smaller pieces. Pour in nutritional yeast and cheese shreds and mix thoroughly until well combined. You may add other ingredients here if you'd like including herbs, spices, fresh spinach leaves, or veggies.

Cover the base of two casserole dishes with a thin layer of marinara sauce. One by one, pick up each pasta shell and fill it with your cheese and tofu filling with a spoon. Lay each stuffed shell in the dish, seam facing up, and repeat until all your shells are stuffed and your two dishes are full. (Alternatively, you can do a double layer of shells in one dish but I found they don't cook as evenly. One layer seems cook best!).

Drizzle more marinara sauce over the shells so each is covered. Top with some pepita parmesan. Cover each dish with foil, stick in your preheated oven and bake for about 35 minutes or until sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted. Serve hot and enjoy!