The veggie box strikes again with a spaghetti squash! This is another vegetable that I've never had, so I figured for the first time I'd go with a classic use- spaghetti squash with tomato/meat sauce.
Ingredients:
- 1 spaghetti squash
- 1 lb ground beef
- Half a green pepper, diced
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 portobello mushroom, halved and sliced
- 1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
- Salt and pepper
- ¼ tsp. dried thyme
- ½ tsp. dried oregano
- ¼ tsp. cayenne
- Parmesan cheese
Slice in half and allow to cool. Remove seeds. Using a fork, run it inside the squash to create the spaghetti "noodles."
For the filling/sauce, heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook for a couple of minutes. Add onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Cook until meat is browned.
Mix in tomatoes, green pepper, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle with thyme, oregano, and cayenne. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
I stopped here and put my "noodles" in a bowl and put the sauce on top with some cheese. If you want, you can instead reduce oven to 350F. Add the sauce on top of your prepared squash halves. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired. Bake for 10 minutes, or until heated through and cheese is melted. I think that is a poor plan, because 1, the squash husk was really flimsy and thin after I got alllll the noodles out. 2) The squash and sauce made enough for 6 servings, and this implies only 2 servings (since there are only two halves to serve it in).
RP Servings: 6, but it would depend on the size of your squash.
Stars: I say 4, husband says 3. For me- the noodles almost didn't even have a taste, so when you compare 42 calories for a cup of spaghetti squash noodles vs. 400 calories for a cup or actual noodles? We're counting calories right now, so there's really no contest. Eric thought that it was good, but that it seemed a little too bland. He said that for example, you could technically eat noodles with just butter or oil and salt/pepper/parmesan, but that you'd definitely need a lot of sauce to make spaghetti sauce good. Which, to be fair, is true. But the good news was that we had a lot of sauce, so it was still tasty.
Speaking of sauce, that was also pretty good, but I think that a can of tomato sauce or blended diced tomatoes would have added a nice (and needed) liquid to it.
Stars: I say 4, husband says 3. For me- the noodles almost didn't even have a taste, so when you compare 42 calories for a cup of spaghetti squash noodles vs. 400 calories for a cup or actual noodles? We're counting calories right now, so there's really no contest. Eric thought that it was good, but that it seemed a little too bland. He said that for example, you could technically eat noodles with just butter or oil and salt/pepper/parmesan, but that you'd definitely need a lot of sauce to make spaghetti sauce good. Which, to be fair, is true. But the good news was that we had a lot of sauce, so it was still tasty.
Speaking of sauce, that was also pretty good, but I think that a can of tomato sauce or blended diced tomatoes would have added a nice (and needed) liquid to it.
RSS Feed