Creamy Pesto Chicken Stuffed Shells

I just LOVE everything Joelen from "What's Cookin' Chicago?" posts! One week, I had 4 dinner items from her blog on my menu (and I only cook 5 nights a week). This is one of my favorites: http://joelens.blogspot.com/2010/05/pesto-chicken-stuffed-shells.html


I halved the recipe because it was only for 2 people, and we both loved it!
Here are the ingredients used to serve two people (plus have some leftovers; they reheat great!):
7-10 jumbo pasta shells, 2-4 oz. cream cheese (I didn't half this at all because I LOVE it creamy), 1/2 cup Parmesan or Asiago plus another 1/8-1/4 cup for topping, 1 1/2 tablespoons pesto, 1 cup cooked, shredded chicken, and 1 clove garlic. 
The first time I made this I prepared the shell stuffing mixture before cooking the shells and when it came time to stuff them I kept burning my fingers, so this time I learned a little somethin' and cooked the shells before doing anything else so they had plenty of time to cool! While my pasta shells were cooling, I boiled my chicken in water seasoned with a little rosemary, sea salt, and Italian seasoning. I find chicken is easiest to shred if it's boiled or cooked in a crock pot. 
Next, I add my shredded cup of chicken to a large bowl with the 4 oz. cream cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan, 1 1/2 tablespoons pesto, and 1 clove minced garlic. Now all you have to do is thoroughly mix the ingredients together and stuff them into your cooled shells!

 

Now it all tastes great just like this, but by now the shells are cold so you're going to want to preheat your oven to 350oF, put all your stuffed shells in a baking dish, sprinkle them with however much Parmesan or Asiago you prefer and bake them for fifteen to twenty five minutes until they're hot and delicious.