Spaghetti Squash & Meat Sauce

Winter is for comfort food, and is there anything more comforting than homemade spaghetti? I think not! Unfortunately though, comfort food tends not to be the healthiest of options. Turns out I’ve got ya covered 🙂 As I mentioned with my zucchini noodles post, there are a lot of healthier ways to enjoy a comfort food like pasta, without having to sacrifice the deliciousness of pasta.

So for this recipe, instead of using real pasta, we’re using spaghetti squash. Spaghetti squash is a miraculous vegetable that once roasted, peels into noodles! As it is a vegetable, it a great nutritional profile, with 1 serving having 300% of your daily vitamin A recommendations.

For the sauce, I like to put organic ground turkey in it, but you could definitely make it vegetarian or vegan without the turkey, as it’s also full of cooked veggies! For the sauce, I used an organic tomato sauce that was already full of garlic to give it an extra kick!

Recipe

Prep Time:

15 mins

Cook Time:

40 mins

Total Time:

55 mins

Serves:

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash
2 TBSP coconut oil
4 big cloves of garlic
1 package mushrooms
3 carrots, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 TBSP Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
1lb organic ground turkey, bison or lean ground beef (Bison/beef is higher iron)
1 jar pasta sauce (I used an organic garlic one)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400F
Chop off the stem of the squash and then slice lengthwise (This requires serious strength)
Using a spoon, remove the seeds and gunk inside
Brush some coconut oil on the inside and lay the insides face down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper
Roast squash for 35-40 minutes. To know if it's done, check to see if noodles easily come out with a fork. You don't want to overcook it.
Meanwhile, heat coconut oil over medium heat in a pan
Mince the garlic, and dice the onion
Saute for 5 minutes
Chop all remaining vegetables and add them to the pan
Season with Italian seasoning and salt and pepper and continue to stir
Once all the vegetables are almost fully cooked, add the ground turkey, and cook for another 10 minutes
Once the turkey is cooked, add the pasta sauce, and turn down the heat to low
Simmer for another 10 minutes

Spaghetti Squash & Meat Sauce