I have been wanting to try to make spaghetti squash now for a long long time. I just couldn't bring myself to substituting my childhood comfort food of  pasta for veggies that look like spaghetti. When I was a child my Mom used to tell me, "Susan, you're going to turn into a noodle!" I could have literally eaten spaghetti and meat sauce every single night for dinner.  Last night I finally took the plunge to make my fake yet much healthier and way less caloric "pasta".  We topped our "spaghetti" with lots of fresh veggies and sun-dried tomato chicken sausage. By replacing my beloved spaghetti with vegetable spaghetti, I was able to fill my bowl much higher with delicious food then if I were to have been stuffing my face with carbs. (Disclaimer: I don't think I will ever be able to give up my real noodles, but maybe I can use squash as a substitute once in a while 😉 

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Spaghetti Squash Primavera
Serves 4
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Ingredients
  1. 2 large spaghetti squashes, cut in half and seeds removed
  2. Approx 1/4 cup of basil, shredded
  3. 1 package of fresh spinach
  4. 1 box of grape tomatoes, sliced in half
  5. 4 chicken sausages (your choice of flavor) we used sundried tomato
  6. 1tbsp of Parmesan cheese per serving (or however much you desire)
  7. 1 zucchini, cut in slices
  8. 1 box of mushrooms
  9. 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
  10. salt and pepper to taste
  11. Approx 1 tbsp of olive
Instructions
  1. Slice spaghetti squash in half. Get your muscles out! This was by far the most difficult time I had chopping something in half. Thank goodness for boot camp:)
  2. Remove seeds. It was pretty much like scrapping seeds out of a pumpkin, except I didn't get to carve a scary face into my squash, boooo!
  3. Lightly brush squash with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place face down on a greased cookie sheet.
  4. Bake in oven at 375 degrees for approx 45 minutes or till slightly browned on flesh. It’s ready when you are able to pierce through the skin with a fork and it’s tender. You don’t want it mushy.
  5. Meanwhile prepare sauce. Chop all veggies, chicken sausage, garlic and basil. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a large skillet.
  6. Saute zucchini for a few minutes.
  7. Add grape tomatoes.
  8. Add sliced mushrooms a few minutes later.
  9. Toss in your spinach. Spinach will cook down quite a bit.
  10. Add sliced chicken sausage. (Sausage is already pre-cooked, next time I will probably grill sausages beforehand either on grill or pan to create a more snappy sausage.
  11. Cook sauce for an additional few minutes. I had to drain out a lot of excess water after I finished my sauce. Next time I might not add the zucchini.
  12. Remove spaghetti squash from oven. Let squash cool for about 10-15 minutes. Take a fork and run it through the squash. It will form long pieces of stringy spaghetti. Transfer to bowl.
  13. Top each bowl with 1/4 of primavera sauce. Toss in shredded basil and top with Parmesan cheese.
Notes
  1. Preheat to 375
  2. Calorie Comparison
  3. Eat Fit Not Fat- Spaghetti Squash Primavera- 260 calories per serving
  4. Olive Garden’s Spaghetti and Italian Sausage – 1270 calories per serving
  5. 1 cup of plain spaghetti (no sauce)- 221 calories
  6. 1 cup of spaghetti squash- 42 calories
Bog Manners https://bogmanners.com/
Bon Appetit! Next time I would like to substitute the veggies for Donna Bard's famous meatballs! Yum Yum! Maybe I can have a 3rd meatball if I'm not consuming so much pasta 🙂

Another great recipe would be to grill up some shrimp. Toss together spaghetti squash and shrimp with a little lemon, olive oil, garlic and parm. Delicious!

Recipes adapted from a few different websites:

http://www.pappadontpreach.com/2013/01/16/that-spaghetti-squash-recipe/

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spaghetti-Squash-I/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=spaghetti%20squash&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page