I love happy accidents. You know, when you were thinking something was going to happen, but something else does, and it ends up being even better than what you expected?

Not sure why I just defined “happy accident” for you. Let’s get down to it, shall we?

So the other day, I came across a recipe for stuffed shells. I’ve never made them before, but my mom has made them, and I know I like them. I also have a rather Italian husband who is a fan of just about any pasta dish.

Obviously, this was fate.

So after skimming the recipe, I headed to the grocery store to procure the ingredients. Well…most of the ingredients.

Turns out I’m not the best skimmer. Because I managed to come home short an onion and some fresh chorizo. (What’s chorizo? It’s sausage. I only know that because I just looked it up when I wrote this. I had been assuming it was some kind of vegetable similar to an onion. I actually did have sausage on hand. Also, I’m an idiot.) And guess what? I also managed to leave the store without purchasing the shells. For my stuffed shells recipe.

Sometimes I really wonder about my brain.

Not to be deterred (and really craving the taste of stuffed shells at this point), I opened my pantry to see what I could substitute. And lo and behold, I actually had half a box of conchiglie, or mini shell pasta.

We were back in business.

I still didn’t have an onion or chorizo (whatever that was), but I figured I could make due.

And when I was done making up my little recipe, it was pretty stinking good. (The hubs can verify.) And that is the story of how Inside-Out Stuffed Shells came to be.

Here’s the recipe breakdown with photos:

Ingredients:

1/2-3/4 box conchiglie
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt (plus additional for seasoning)
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper (plus additional for seasoning)
Olive oil cooking spray
1 package frozen spinach (thawed in microwave)
1 1/2 cups low-fat ricotta
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
1 egg white

Step One: Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain, and set aside. While pasta is cooking, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add tomatoes and sugar and season with salt and pepper to your taste. Simmer for about 10 minutes, then set aside.

{sauce simmering and pasta boiling}

Step Two: Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Step Three: Combine spinach, cheeses, egg white, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Then mix in the tomato sauce.

Side note: If your “steam it in the bag” spinach tells you to snip a vent hole in the bag of frozen spinach before you start microwaving, it’s really a good idea to not miss that step and simply start microwaving the sealed bag because, I don’t know, it might explode and get spinach shards all over the inside of your microwave. Hypothetically. Not that I know anything about that. See also: I’m an idiot, above.

{cheeses, combined}

{spinach, added}

Step Four: Coat a baking dish with cooking spray (mine was about 6-by-10 inches) and add drained pasta.

Step Five: Add tomato and cheese mixture. Combine thoroughly. Bake pasta for about 30 minutes. (Let rest for about 5 minutes before serving so the sauce can thicken up.)

{baked}

And that’s it! At first I called it “deconstructed stuffed shells,” but then Joey goes, “So basically it’s like inside-out shells?” And I thought that name was catchier. So here we are.

{nom}

If you wanted to add in the missing onion and chorizo/sausage, simply brown them in the large saucepan of oil before adding the tomatoes and sugar, easy-peasy.

(Recipe adapted from this version.)

Have you ever accidentally invented something because you didn’t have the right ingredients on hand? Doesn’t it make you feel like a wizard in the kitchen? Share your happy accident recipes in the comments!