PW's Veggie and Cheese Shells

Found at the Pioneer Woman (her page has more pretty pictures!)

(pic from: thepioneerwoman.com)

Ingredients:
16 ounces pasta shells (medium) or other short pasta
1 pound asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces (discard tough pieces)
½ pounds boccoli, cut into small florets
½ pounds zucchini (about 1 medium zucchini) diced
½ cups frozen peas
3 whole green onions sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons olive oil
20 ounces ricotta cheese
½ teaspoons Salt
2 whole Eggs
1-½ cup Parmesan Cheese
Black Pepper,
Extra Olive Oil For Drizzling

Cook!
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Cook pasta until extremely al dente—with still quite a bit of bite and drain.
4) Melt butter with the olive oil over medium-low to medium heat, then add in the garlic and green onions.  Add the asparagus to the pan and cook for five minutes. Sprinkle in a little salt.
5) Add the broccoli and cook for one minute, then add the zucchini and cook for one or two more minutes. 6) Add the frozen peas, stir together then turn off the heat. Set aside. Salt veggies as needed.
7) In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta, eggs, salt, and pepper until well combined.
8) To assemble: Butter a 9×13-inch baking dish. Add layers in this order:

• 1/2 pasta
• 1/3 of the ricotta mixture over the surface (this is hard as it kinda sticks to the noodles)
• Sprinkle 1/3 of the Parmesan over the ricotta 
•  ½ of the vegetables
• Rest of the pasta
• Rest of the ricotta
• 1/3 of the Parmesan
•  End with the rest of the vegetables and the rest of the Parmesan.

9) Drizzle with a couple of tablespoons olive oil, then bake for 25 minutes on 350 degrees or until nice and hot.

Notes:
I think the Ricotta container comes in 24 oz -- I just use all of it. She uses whole, I use skim. It tastes just fine. I sub olive oil for all of the butter, and cut down on the amount of olive oil as well (like I don't drizzle at the end.). Tip for asparagus: holding the two ends in your hands, snap it in the middle. It will break off where the woody part starts, so you don't get any of the tough asparagus in your dish. This barely all fits in the dish.
 
posted by Olivia