Emily's Spaghetti Squash Favorite!

Spaghetti Squash is one of the best veggies to easily replace pasta in your diet.  Whether you are on the Paleo diet, eating gluten free, or just looking to reduce your consumption of pasta, Spaghetti Squash is one of the easiest substitutes!

 

 

It can be made in a variety of ways to meet your liking or recipe.  I'm going to share with you my tried and true, dinner party favorite as you know that we all need one stand by dish that not everyone else makes! Even my vegetarian friends love this dish and I either remove the grass fed ground meat and substitute tofu, or just remove the protein for them completely.  If you are creative in the kitchen, using this recipe as your base and building from there is encouraged and leave your comments below with your favorite variation!

 

This past weekend I ran out of my summer CSA crushed tomatoes in the freezer.  I make a huge batch over the summer and freeze them for later winter use.  Sadly, the supply is out and it is only January!  I will definitely be stocking up this summer and posting the easy, crockpot crushed tomato recipe I follow....but I digress.  So I ran out of tomatoes, went to my favorite grocer and they were out of crushed tomatoes in a box.  I'm not a fan of the taste of crushed tomatoes in a can so I hopped over to the produce section and picked up some organic roma tomatoes to make my own.

 

 

While the tomatoes were cooking in the crockpot, I turned on the oven to bake the squash.  While the squash was in the oven, I cut up the onions and sautéed them with the grass fed ground beef from Walden Local Meat.   

 

 

While the meat was going, I started shredding the Vermont Cheddar and Parm in separate containers.  Ikea makes these awesome shedders that go right into a container - and they come in a 2 pack!  At some point I sipped a glass of my favorite wine and kept cooking.  The result was a beautiful full dish of delish squash and happy New Englanders who dug us out of 30+" of snow.  It was a wonderful evening with delightful conversation about all the musings around us.  Below is a plated picture and recipe - bon appetite!

 

 Emily's Spaghetti Squash Favorite!

 

2 lbs. ground meat

1 onion/shallots

1 large box crushed tomatoes

2 cloves garlic - crushed

 

8 oz Vermont white cheddar cheese - shredded

2 oz or taste parm cheese - shredded

8 oz Breakstone's sour cream

 

2 medium sized spaghetti squashed

 

1 - Preheat oven to 400.  Wash squash and place in casserole dish to be baked in oven.  Pierce the squash like you would a potato so the pressure is released while cooking. I usually make 3-4 long knife cuts in the squash.  Bake for 40 minutes, rotate 1/2 way through.  Once done, wait to cool and then cut the squash in half.  Scoop out the seeds and then pull the squash apart with a fork.

 

2 - Chop onion and add ground meat to be sautéed.  The grass fed beef typically does not need any additional fat, but if you want to do the onion first, add EVOO to sauté.   Cook until meat is browned and then add garlic and tomatoes.  Continue to simmer while you wait for the spaghetti squash to finish.

 

3 -Shred the cheddar and parm in 2 separate containers as later the layers are done separately. 

 

4 - Layering time! Bottom to Top:

1/2 the Squash

1/2 Meat

1/2 of the sour cream

1/4 of the cheddar

 

Repeat 1x, except use all the remaining cheddar and sprinkle on the parm cheese as the last layer. 

 

5 - Bake for 30 minutes on 400, until the cheese has melted and begins to slightly brown - if you like it that way ;)

 

6 - Take out of the oven and let it rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.  This will give it a moment to gel and get the table set!

 

Enjoy!  I hope it sounds like a fun recipe because it is and once you make it once it will become your go to when you have all the ingredients.  Even non-veggie lovers have 2nds!

 

Em

 

Simple Summer Dressing

My little daughter loves all things farm fresh.  Red Leaf Lettuce, brussell sprouts, lavendar, you name it.  Recently, she started eating my salad, right out of the bowl....dressing and all.  If a kid will eat my homemade dressing, it should be shared with everyone.  I do tend to improvise and make the quantity that I need based on the day and week..so here goes:

Whole Grain Mustard - Cilantro Dressing
Using a Tablespoon as your measure for each serving of salad, i.e. 4 servings of salad, multiple this recipe 4x.

1 Tablespoon Whole Grain Mustard, I prefer Trader Joe's
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Tablespoon EVOO
2 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of freshly chopped cilantro
Salt/Pepper to taste

Shake in your favorite dressing container - I love the Bonne Maman jars!
And serve - refridgerate extra up to 5 days.
Bon appetite!

Energy Efficient Cooking

Cooking and baking are one of my favorite ways to spend a Saturday.  Since having kids though, my time is quite limited as to how much time I can spend in the kitchen.  I have tried Once a Month Cooking, batch cooking & freezing, raw recipes that require little prep and on and on.   I've combined all of these techniques into something that works for our family and minimizes the amount of energy used.  Most recently, with my gluten allergy and intolerance, figuring out "what's for dinner" has become even more important to me so I know that I can share in the family dinner time without having to worry if I can or cannot eat it.  However, when I talk to other friends and co-workers about their kitchen strategy, most do not have a plan or barely know how to articulate how they get it done.  Here is what works at our house and maybe taking pieces of what works for us, will help you have a more effective and efficient cooking and baking experience.

First, I review the latest farm share delivery and center our meals for the week around that.  I also consider what our family/work schedule is for the next two weeks to see if there will be any large gaps of time away from the family, for either my husband or I.  If there are gaps, I plan to make larger batches of what I'm cooking to put 3-4 meals in the freezer that can easily be defrosted.  Then, I find the circular of the grocery store with the most sales and that will compliment my farm share well.  This process takes about 15 minutes, but in the long run of planning, it's the best time spent.  To have a general plan about what is for dinner, takes away the stress on the evenings when an unplanned activity arises.

Once I have all the ingredients I need to make several meals, I start the prep work.  If I need to shred zucchini, beets and onions, I use the food processor near the sink and get to work.  I think about the order of shredding the vegetables, as the onions will leave a taste on the blades and container that I may not want transferred to the zucchini, if it's going into a bread.  After everything is chopped, diced, shredded and sliced, I put together the meals that I've been preparing for.  Then I set everything on the counter and let it set.  It must be an old tradition from my grandmother, but I feel that giving the food the time to absorb the new state it is in, gives it a moment.  Figuring out the spacing in the oven sometimes takes some time.  If I've prepped 6 dishes and only have room for 4, I try to minimize the length of time the oven needs to be on to save energy.  Maximizing how many dishes I cook at a time, reduces the amount of time the oven is on.  I have also found that turning off the oven earlier than a recipe calls for allows for the food to cook internally (of course, this only works if you've already pre-cooked the meat in a lasagna for instance).  Using my slow cooker also reduces the amount of energy and electricity used in our kitchen.  I recently made a gluten free lasagna with zucchini and rice lasagna noodles in the slow cooker.  It was absolutely awesome, cooked while I was at work and there was minimal prep involved as I was already shredding zucchini for a bread and was batch cooking turkey meat to use in multiple dishes.  Although the rice lasagna noodles called for pre-cooking the noodles, I placed zucchini on each layer of noodle so the moisture from the zucchini would soak into the noodle.  The dish was so great, the kids asked for 2nds!

Here's a link to a handy list of energy efficient cooking tips:
http://www.naturalnews.com/030578_cooking_baking.html

Happy Baking!