Spaghetti Squash

One of my oldest daughter’s favorite fall and winter meals is spaghetti squash. She does happy dances when she gets to pick them out at the farmer’s markets or orchards. She often says that this squash is one of our best discoveries when we switched to real whole foods!

Here are two super easy recipes that are her favorites….

Both recipes begin with baking the spaghetti squash, so we will start with that…

Baking Spaghetti Squash

Supply List:

Spaghetti squash

Cutting board

Knife

Spoon

Baking dish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425

Cut the squash in half length wise

Spaghetti Squash Noodles

This recipe is really hard to do! I mean really hard!!! Just wait, you will break a sweat!!

Supply List:

Spaghetti squash (Baked)

Seasonings of your choice. We used roasted garlic powder, sea salt, pepper, parsley, dill, toasted onion, and red pepper this time.

Oil or Butter (Comes down to preference.)

Directions:

Scoop out the “meat” or “pulp” of the squash for each half, leaving only the skin. It will come out easily if squash is fully cooked.

The pulp is ready to season with either oil or butter. My oldest decided on butter. Add spices and seasonings to taste.

That’s it! Time to eat. I know, told you it was a really hard dish to make! Don’t forget to wipe your brow!

By the way, you can also add spaghetti sauce using the squash as noodles. I would just omit the butter and oil personally. Another favorite here.

On to the next spaghetti squash recipe. This one in all seriousness, is a little bit more complicated to do than the first recipe. I can promise you though it is WELL worth it!

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna Bowl

Supply List:

Spaghetti squash baked

1 lb Ricotta cheese

1 quart Tomato starter (recipe here or here….Options are always fun!)

1 lb Ground meat of your choice ( I used hamburger)

Onion / shallots

3 cloves Garlic

2 Eggs

Mushrooms

Salt

Pepper

Sage

Cilantro

Parsley

Dill

Mozzarella cheese

Parmesan cheese

Pot or really large skillet

Baking sheet / dish

Bowl

Whisk

2 Spoons

Cutting board

Knife

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425

Dice onions or shallots, mince garlic, slice mushrooms and add to the pot along with the hamburger.

Cook on med heat until the meat is browned.

While the meat is browning put the ricotta and eggs in a bowl and whisk until well blended.

Add the tomato starter and seasonings (to taste) to the browned hamburger. If you are not used to cooking with sage, a word of advice, a little can go a long way!

Take the squash and flip it skin side down (so you are looking at a bowl).

Layer the bowl with the ricotta and then the spaghetti sauce, repeating it until the bowl is filled.

Top with shredded Parmesan and mozzarella cheese.

Place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes until the cheese melts on top and is slightly browned.

At this point you can place under a broiler in your oven until the cheese is browned. Just be careful not to burn it. I chose not to do it that way as I have 3 kids, a Hubby, 2 dogs that were all needing my attention at once. I knew the food was going to be somewhere else on my list other then numero uno!

Once done, place it on a plate with a fork or two and enjoy! This dish is awesome to share if you had a HUGE squash like I did!! There is no way to really share this any other way. The squash pulp becomes your noodles.

It tastes freaking INCREDIBLE! No really, I mean FREAKING INCREDIBLE!!!!!

HAPPY FALL AND WINTER!