Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti

Spaghetti was one of my favorite meals as a kid but it left me feeling uncomfortably full, weighted down, and sluggish. My body was telling me something and I wasn’t listening. Sound familiar? Have no fear, squash is here!

That’s right, it’s squash season and spaghetti squash is a more nutritious choice for making pasta dishes. It just SQUASHES (I had to…) traditional pasta noodles by being gluten-free, grain-free, and full of fiber and vitamin C. It doesn’t have much of a flavor by itself, just like regular spaghetti noodles, so you don’t have to worry about it tasting funny. Try it out!

INGREDIENTS:

• Spaghetti Squash
• 1-2 large portabella mushroom (or your select favorite mushroom)
• 1/2-3/4 lb of grass fed ground beef
• 25oz can organic pasta sauce (I like 365 Tomato Basil from Whole Foods)
• ***the amount of ingredients can very depending on how much you like of any one thing (big meat eater? love mushrooms? always drenching your spaghetti in sauce?)

DIRECTIONS:

1. preheat oven to 375 F
2. cut spaghetti squash in half length wise and scoop out the center seeds
3. place squash cut side down on a baking pan with 1cm of water in the pan and bake in oven for 35 minutes ***For a quicker meal, microwave the squash for 7-9 mins (use a glass dish instead); if you have a small micro message me and I’ll give you a tip to do both sides at once.
4. break up ground beef in a saucepan and pour the pasta sauce over it (this is key to get an awesome consistancy and texture to your sauce)
5. heat on medium to medium-low and stir frequently as you cut up the mushroom into small bites
6. add mushrooms after a couple of mins and cook for several more (I honestly don’t know how long it was till I thought it looked done)
7. when squash is finished use a fork to scrap out the middle.
8. combine sauce and “spaghetti” together
9. ***it’s also very good with fresh parmesan cheese sprinkled on top, although since I am lactose intolerant, I only have on special occasions

Choose to create something nutritious next time you decide to have spaghetti for dinner 🙂