Southwestern Chicken Stuffed Shells

Leftovers... you either love them or hate them! In our house, we like them and afford throwing away food as much as possible. So when we have a mish mosh of ingredients leftover, one way I like using them up is to come up with a filling of some sort. In this case, I had a few ingredients left over from a Tex Mex dinner I prepared. Looking what I had to work with, I made these Southwestern Chicken Stuffed Shells which turned out delicious!...

These jumbo pasta shells are filled with a mixture of chicken, Monterey Jack cheese, cilantro, diced jalapeno, taco seasoning, corn, black beans, and cream cheese. Once the shells were filled, I topped them with salsa with more shredded cheese and baked them in a preheated oven. Just before serving, I sprinkled some fresh cilantro and served them with sour cream and guacamole. Feel free to tweak this to your tastes and what ingredients you have on hand. Hopefully before you throw out that food, you can use it to create a filling and fill away!

Southwestern Chicken Stuffed Shells
original Joelen recipe

1 box jumbo pasta shells, cooked

2 cups shredded cooked chicken or 1 rotisserie chicken (fully cooked)
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 cup chopped cilantro + more for garnish
1 small jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon taco seasoning (store bought or homemade)

1/2 cup sweet corn kernels (canned)
1/2 cup black beans (rinsed and drained)
8oz cream cheese
1 cup salsa (jarred/storebought or homemade)
Guacamole or slices of avocado for serving
Sour cream for serving

Cook pasta shells as directed, drain and set aside.

In the meantime, debone the rotisserie chicken and place the meat in a large bowl. After you've deboned the chicken of all meat, discard the bones and shred the chicken meat with 2 forks or your fingers. Add to the chicken  the 1/2 shredded cheese, chopped cilantro, diced jalapeno, taco seasoning, corn, black beans, and cream cheese. Toss to cmbine; set aside.

In a 13 x 9 baking pan, lightly grease with cooking spray. Fill cooked pasta shells with filling & place in greased pan. Continue to fill all pasta shells using the filling. Once baking pan is full, pour the salsa over the top of the filled shells. Sprinkle with shredded monterey jack cheese and bake at 350 for 45 - 60 minutes.

Garnish with more chopped cilantro and serve with sour cream and slices of ripe avocado (or guacamole).