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Do you have a salt marsh near you? I grew up near one in Sandy Hook, New Jersey. We had a field trip there in sixth grade, and I can still remember all the things I learned about including how to safely eat a prickly pear cactus. (Yes, there are wild cacti in on the Jersey Shore. Who knew?)

Sandy Hook is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area and according to their fall newsletter, they’re having a salt marsh walk on November 3, 2007 at 2 p.m. If you live in the New York City/Jersey Shore area, you should check it out. Don’t forget to bundle up! I remember going fishing with my dad out on the ocean side of Sandy Hook in the winter, and boy was it windy and cold.

If you want to learn more about salt marshes, check out A Day in the Salt Marsh by Kevin Kurtz and illustrated by Consie Powell from Sylvan Dell Publishing. Rhyming verse introduces you and your child to marsh animals and plants. I really enjoyed how each page showed the hourly changes in the marsh as the tide comes and goes.

As with all Sylvan Dell books, a “For Creative Minds” section is at the end of the book. You can play a salt marsh plants and animals matching game or learn more about tides and tidal animals. (To view a PDF of the “For Creative Minds” section, click here. You can also download a PDF of a Teaching Activity Guide.)

A salt marsh is a great place to collect shells. So with that in mind, how about pairing the book with some edible stuffed shells courtesy of FamilyFun.com?

I recently made this for a sick friend of a friend. I doubled the recipe, put the shells in three 64 oz. GLADWare containers, and froze them. This way her family can thaw out one or two of the containers, put the cold or semi-frozen shells in a oven safe casserole dish, and cook at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Stuffed Shells
Servings: 6
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Baking Time: 30 - 50 minutes

Ingredients:

1. One box of a 12-ounce box of jumbo pasta shells
2. 1 teaspoon salt
3. 2 (15-ounce) container ricotta cheese
4. 4 large eggs
5. 2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6. 4 cups grated mozzarella cheese
7. 4 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (or 4 teaspoons dried)
8. 2 (26-ounce) jar Italian pasta sauce

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and the pasta shells to the water. Boil the pasta shells until they are tender, but still a little firm (al dente), about 10 minutes. Meanwhile make the filling (step 2). When pasta is done, drain the shells, run under cold water to stop the cooking process and set aside.

Step 2: In a large bowl stir together: the ricotta cheese, eggs, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, and parsley or mint. Pour about 1 cup of pasta sauce into a 9×12 casserole dish. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the ricotta filling into each cooked pasta shell. (I used a small ice cream scoop for this step.) Place the filled shells, side by side, (three lengthwise rows of 6 shells per row), into the casserole dish. At this point, the dish can be made and refrigerated for up to 24 hours. Or freeze for later use.

Step 3: Spoon the remaining pasta sauce on top of the shells and bake uncovered until bubbly, about 30 minutes. If using refrigerated shells, allow 40 minutes baking time.

Time savers: Use already grated Parmesan and mozzarella cheese, and canned or bottled pasta sauce.

Healthy tips: Use low fat versions of the cheeses and ricotta. You can also substitute 8 egg whites for the 4 whole eggs.

Variations: Experiment by adding spinach, sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts, and ham to the cheese mix.

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