This summer, I fell in love with Spaghetti Squash, and it's a good thing that I did since we were growing it in our garden. To be honest, I'm not sure who picked out the squash for our garden, because neither my husband or I had ever cooked with or eaten this form of squash before. I was searching clean recipes on the internet and found a recipe for Spaghetti Squash, and so I bought a squash from the store. I later found out (when browsing through our crops) that I had squash that looked very similar to the one I had purchased from the store...bada-bing!...I no longer had to purchase Spaghetti Squash all summer.
One of my favorite recipes for the squash was a Clean Eating Spaghetti Pie found here Broke and Bougie's Clean Eating Spaghetti Pie. I was set to make this a couple nights ago, when my good friend posted a new squash recipe on my Facebook wall - it's as if she read my mind and knew that I was preparing Spaghetti Squash that night! The new recipe Spaghetti Squash Lasagna Boats by Skinny Taste sounded just as yummy as the one I had planned, but I didn't have the Italian Chicken Sausage (the main ingredient) so I decided to play around and combine the two recipes together. The result was DE-licious. I had anticipated leftovers so that I wouldn't have to cook the next night, but I wasn't let off the hook that easily. Lucky for me, I didn't use all of the squash so I was able to make a Spaghetti Squash and Cheese meal the next day...another yummy, low carb recipe that we can save for another time.
Enough talk, here's what happened in my kitchen Thursday night:
Ingredients:
- 1 spaghetti squash
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 lb lean ground turkey
- 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
- 14 oz. can crushed tomatoes
- 1/3 cup part skim ricotta cheese
- 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1/2 chopped onion
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon Basil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
The directions for both recipes said to bake the Spaghetti Squash in the oven, open face down (after cutting it in half lengthwise and scraping out the seeds and membrane) for about an hour at 400 degrees F. I didn't want to warm the house up for an hour, so I boiled my squash in half the time, adding in some salt and pepper into the water. I've read that you can boil the squash whole, and once it cools down you can cut it, and scoop out the innards. I cut mine first, scooped it out, and tossed it in the water. 30 minutes later, my squash was cooling and getting ready for another scooping session.
While the squash was boiling, I combined the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, and Italian seasoning. I used a bottle of grated parmesan cheese, because that's what was in my cupboard already.
Then, I added the oil, onion, and garlic to a large sauté pan, and watched the onion soften for about 4 minutes. Next, I browned the ground turkey. I added in the can of tomatoes and chicken broth once the turkey was browned, and topped it all with a dash of salt, pepper and basil, covered the pan and turned the heat down. I let this simmer for 20 minutes or so.
While the ground turkey mixture was simmering, I took the Spaghetti Squash off the stove and let it cool down. After about 10 minutes, I was able to scoop the "spaghetti" out of the squash. Then, I turned on the oven to 400 degrees F.
The assembly line came next - I combined equal parts squash with the ground turkey mixture and placed them into both halves of the squash. I placed the squash, face up, on a cookie sheet and topped them with the ricotta cheese mixture.
Then, the mozzarella cheese.
And, into the oven they went. 20 minutes was just enough time to make the cheese bubble and melt. This will be a new family favorite meal.
