You made a spaghetti squash. Possibly your first. Congrats! Now let’s translate it into a yummy meal.
I love spaghetti squash because it makes a great family type meal. The divas know (intellectually) that it is not pasta, but seriously? Anything covered in sauce is going to be good. The trick is to make it a health benefit as well.
We like Alfredo sauce. A lot. Unfortunately, it has a gamillion calories, so I have to make some concessions to make it all work.
First off, I make it into a casserole. What does that do? Casserole = finite amount of sauce. With a traditional pasta dish you tend to dump sauce on it and not think about how much. With a casserole you add sauce then reheat it, which infuses that flavor into everything in the casserole, removing the need for a lot of sauce.
I could write a book on this stuff (wink), but I think I’ll give you the recipe now:
Spaghetti Squash Alfredo a la Nik
2 yellow squash, diced
2 zucchini, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. chicken breasts, cubed
Yield of one spaghetti squash
½ c. skim milk
½ c. grated Parmesan cheese (you can get the shelf stuff but grating your own is so much better!)
Fresh ground pepper (to taste) and sea salt
½ a jar Alfredo sauce (I use Ragu reduced fat)
4 o 5 slices of Provolone cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray down a sautee pan with nonstick and cook chicken breast cubes thoroughly and transfer to a large mixing bowl.
In the same pan, sautee both types of squash and onions until just tender. Add garlic and mix well. Transfer to same bowl as chicken.
Turn burner down to low and add milk, scraping up the bits at the bottom of the pan. When the edges of the milk begin to bubble, add the Alfredo sauce, mix well and warm through.
Add spaghetti squash to the large mixing bowl and mix chicken and veggies completely.
Add parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and mix again.
Add the Alfredo sauce and mix into the veggie mixture thoroughly. Transfer to a 13x9 casserole dish.
Top with slices of provolone cheese and bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
This is a seriously yummy dinner. And here’s the kicker. When you give it to the kids…and they wolf it…you’ve snuck not one, but THREE veggies into their meal!
I let that fact slip to La Grande Diva a few days ago. Messed up her whole world.
And THAT...my lovelies...is what I call playing with my food!
Have a great weekend!
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