Yes, Ashley, but slightly undercook them; maybe boil about 8 minutes. They will finish cooking in the oven. Just make sure they are pliable enough to stuff and about 8 minutes should do it.

Yep..what I do is portion out the meat to the number of shells, which makes it quick and easy to assemble. As the meat cooks, it flavors the sauce and pasta. It’s yummy!

Thanks Melody!

BTW Marie–they are WONDERFUL re-heated. I made them yesterday and am reheating them right now. So you could always cook them then freeze them for later use.

Probably–but if you do, make sure to undercook the pasta slightly as it is likely to get mushy from the long cooking. Personally, I wouldn’t slow cook this. I’ve found that cheese–especially mozzarella–doesn’t fare well in the crock pot. What I’d do if I wanted to serve this for supper on a worknight is make it up on the weekend (or whenever you are off) then freeze it right in a freezer-to-oven baking dish. It’d probably take about 90 min. to cook from frozen. But you could probably make them ahead and just put them in the fridge–but I wouldn’t hold them that way for more than 2 days, 3 at most.

There’s very little grease if you use lean ground beef. I may get about 1-2 tbs when I make this.