Rachel Donaldson.

Welcome to Dining with Donaldson, the place where I try recipes so you don’t have to! You may be asking yourself why you should trust my expertise, so let me tell you a little bit about myself. Besides the fact that I have been enjoying food for over 30 years now, I am a self-described foodie and the current FCS (family and consumer sciences) teacher at North Tama Community School District. If you’re still not convinced, I have also received many notable compliments over the years such as: “Wow this looks so ugly, but is the best thing I’ve ever eaten” and “Did you seriously make this?”

I also enjoy reading cookbooks for fun, will happily choose vacation destinations based on food, and don’t even get me started on the fun food-themed museums I have visited. On top of my foodie hobbies, I am also a published author and hold a master’s in English, so I promise to make these articles interesting.

Join me weekly on an ever-changing food adventure. I’ll share a new recipe each week with my pros, cons, suggestions and some insight into the dish. Now keep in mind , I may not personally enjoy each recipe, but I am also not here to yuck anyone’s yum! Just because something isn’t my favorite doesn’t mean it won’t be yours, so feel free to still give it a whirl. Who knows, maybe you can send me some advice and I’ll try a recipe again.

For our first installment of Dining with Donaldson, I would like to share a recipe I personally created and use regularly in my dinner rotation. In fact, my family enjoyed this one last night: Cheesy Stuffed Shells.

I first came up with this recipe when my girls were younger and my husband was vegetarian. These days, I usually make it with my homemade red sauce. (Don’t worry, that will probably be a future recipe.) It may be meatless, but it is packed with so much flair that you won’t miss the meat. Plus, you will get plenty of protein from the cheese. I usually serve this with homemade garlic bread and a side salad. One of my favorite things about this recipe is how quickly I can throw it together. As we all know, sometimes unexpected guests end up staying for dinner. This recipe takes away the stress of those moments so you can still enjoy your company and deliver a meal that will “wow” them.

Pros

-Super simple

-Quick to prepare

-Minimal ingredients

-Most ingredients are pantry and refrigerator staples

-Easy to scale up or down

-Cottage cheese instead of ricotta makes it budget-friendly

Cons

-Can sometimes become watery after freezing

-Shells can be tricky to not overcook

Suggestions

-Try it as a freezer meal! Simply assemble it in a foil pan, cover tightly with foil, and freeze before baking.

-Shred your own cheese from a block instead of using pre-shredded cheese. It melts better and is usually a better value.

Rachel Donaldson is an author, self-described foodie and the current family and consumer sciences teacher at North Tama Community School District. She resides with her family in Vinton.