58. Cook 10 new dishes
Tonight I completed ONE of my 10 new dishes for this goal. Yesterday my mom and I headed to the local farmers' market to check out the produce. As were walking around we came across some acorn and spaghetti squash. I had heard about spaghetti squash before but had never made it or seen it cooked. As we stood there, I grabbed my phone and looked up a recipe on my Weight Watchers app. It seemed pretty easy so I grabbed one and headed to the check out.
Tonight I actually followed through on my idea and made dish ONE of my 10 new dishes. Before I give you the recipe (complete with pics) to try for yourself, let me tell you that it was GOOD! The squash was really tasty without having all the added carbs of pasta. I'm looking forward to using it again in other recipes.
So without further ado...
Spaghetti Squash Marinara
PointsPlus® Value: 2 (for those of you who do Weight Watchers -- if you add the chicken, one chicken breast is another 5 points)
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 40 min (the squash bakes in the oven for 40 minutes so you can do all the other prep work and cooking during that time)
Level of Difficulty: Moderate (If you've never cooked, this recipe is moderate. But if you do any cooking, this was actually pretty easy.)
A classic Italian-inspired recipe with one delicious and waistline-friendly change: spaghetti squash instead of pasta!
Ingredients
- 1 medium Squash, spaghetti, raw, (about 2 1/2 lb)
- 1 tsp Oil, olive
- 1 small Onion(s), uncooked, chopped
- 1 tsp Garlic, fresh, minced (We buy minced garlic in a jar that can be used over and over again. Almost any recipe is better with some mined up garlic!)
- 14½ oz Tomatoes, canned, stewed, cut up (I would probably add one more can to make it extra saucy)
- 1 tsp Seasoning, italian
- ¼ cup(s) Cheese, parmesan, grated (This is just to sprinkle on before eating.)
Things I added to make it extra special...
- 1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
- Sauteed mushrooms
- 2-3 Chicken Breasts, grilled (I used the George Foreman), and seasoned
- Dash of crushed red peppers
- Dash of ceyenne pepper (or whatever seasoning you like to add an extra kick...I like spicy)
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Halve squash lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Place squash, cut sides down, in a large baking dish and prick skin all over with a fork. Bake until tender, 30 to 40 minutes. (Cutting the squash in half was definitely the most difficult part. Once it's cut, it's all easy from there.)
Once I put the squash into the oven, I began the chopping process.
Once everything was chopped up, I put all the seasonings together and grabbed the olive oil and garlic.
3. Meanwhile, to make the sauce, heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic (and bell pepper) and sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and Italian seasoning; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring often, 5 minutes or until desired consistency. (I also sauteed the mushrooms in a separate pan at this time -- Greg really doesn't like mushrooms.)
Once the sauce was simmering, I went to work on the chicken. On a George Foreman grill, it takes 9 minutes to cook a chicken breast, so I put them on there when there was about 10 minutes left on the squash.
Since I was still "technically" grilling the chicken, one of my favorite things is the Weber grill seasonings. I used the garlic & herb seasoning for this recipe because it went well with the italian theme of the sauce.
Once it was cooked, I cut it up to put on top of the sauce.
4. To serve, carefully rake the stringy squash pulp from the skin with a fork, separating it into strands that look like spaghetti. This part was so much fun! It really does scrape out looking like spaghetti!!!
Spoon sauce over squash and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese (mushrooms and chicken). Yields about 1 1/2 cups of squash, 1/4 cup of sauce and 1 tablespoon of cheese per serving.
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