You guys all know what a huge part food plays in my life and in my home. I love to eat, and I love the smell of delicious meals filling the air because it can make any place feel like home. Remember the zucchini lasagna?
Well, today I have another gluten-free recipe coming at you!
And yes, it happens to be one that looks like pasta, but is actually a vegetable.
Have you ever eaten spaghetti squash before? Apparently I was the last person on earth to know about this magical veggie! I was ignorant to its awesomeness until I saw this post on A Beautiful Mess.
Of course I decided to try it, though I made it with meat – sorry vegetarians! The entire recipe at A Beautiful Mess is vegetarian. Or you can just skip the meat on this one and you’re good to go.
Ready?
So let’s take this step by step. With pictures!!
1. Get a spaghetti squash.
2. Don’t do this. Spaghetti squash is very tough to cut through. Try not to get your knife stuck in it like I did!
3. Remove all of the seeds with a spoon.
4. Look at your nice and clean squash!
5. Season your squash. I covered it in olive oil, sprinkled some salt on it with dried rosemary and fresh thyme. Spaghetti squash basically tastes like nothing, so this will help with that. Put it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. I only made half of the squash and it made enough for about 4 people.
6. While the squash is in the oven, get started on your sauce. Cook some garlic and half of an onion in a little bit of olive oil. Add a can of whole tomatoes (liquid and all).
7. Add some fresh basil to your soon to be sauce. While it simmers on medium/low heat for about 30 minutes, cook about 1lb of extra lean ground beef in a separate skillet.
8. When you take the squash out of the oven, it will be super stinkin’ hot. Hold it with an oven-mit or use tongs. Run a fork through the squash and watch the magic happen. That’s honest to goodness all you have to do. And it looks like spaghetti. Magical!
9. Take the onion and basil out of your tomato sauce and proceed to smush up (technical term) your tomatoes. I left mine a little chunky, because that’s how I like it, but you can use a blender if you don’t like chunks. Add your meat into it, mix it all up, and you’re ready to serve!
10. Eat!
TADAA!!!!
When I ate this delicious, delicious meal, it looked like this. Yeah, that’s a ton of Parmesan cheese on it. So good.
I know this isn’t a “proper” recipe. I’m sorry… if you want more details on ingredients, go to the original source at A Beautiful Mess. This is just my meaty adaptation.
I have made this meal twice now. It’s a hit! Have you tried this before? Anything else I should try spaghetti squash with?
Bon Appétit!!!
Love spaghetti squash!! I’ll always have a special place in my heart for pasta, but when I’m wanting to be healthy, spaghetti squash is a great alternative!
I can’t believe I was in the dark about this magic vegetable for so long!!!
Oh my goodness – – so let me get this straight – – the spaghetti is actually SQUASH?! Consider this girl’s mind blown. And it’s so funny because Mark and I were just saying how we can’t figure out how to use squash besides baking it in the oven and putting brown sugar on top. You’ve just solved that problem for us. Thanks for sharing. And we’re fans of meaty sauce, so this is all the more fitting for us!
Honest to goodness. It’s so delicious!!!! And Alex is not a pasta person AT ALL, yet this was a major hit at our house. Let me know how it goes when you try it!
Ok, everyone is posting spaghetti squash recipes lately. I take this as a sign from the universe that I need to make some spaghetti squash, pronto! This looks tasty, thanks for sharing!!
haha ’tis the season for all things squashy!! You won’t regret it, though. It’s real yummy!
Yesterday I had bought a spaghetti squash- I think I’m going to use this recipe. Thanks you for sharing at the CSIproject.com contest.
Thanks so much for sharing with Wednesday’s Adorned Link Party. Have a great Thanksgiving.
Debi and Charly @ Adorned From Above
http://www.adornedfromabove.com