Spaghetti Squash Casserole

This dish is on regular rotation in our household these days. It satisfies our craving for something warm and comforting, and is something I wouldn't be ashamed to serve to guests. It's a great recipe to have in the back of your mind as well as it's pretty adaptable to whatever you may have around the house (i.e. use a can of diced tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes & pizza sauce, or spinach or other vegetables instead of the broccoli). Mix, match & enjoy!

 Ingredients:

• 1 Medium Spaghetti squash
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 1lb ground beef
• 1 bag of frozen broccoli (or 1 head of fresh broccoli, chopped)
• 1 cup diced tomato (I used cherry tomatoes because that's what we had on hand)
• 1 cup Muir Glenn Organic Pizza Sauce (keep the remainder of the can for paleo pizza later in the week :-) )
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1-2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (or as much/little as you like depending on how spicy you like your food)
• Enough Coconut Oil to grease a 7x11 Pyrex baking dish

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit
• Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds & innards
• Place one half of squash cut side down in pyrex dish and add about 1/2 inch of water to the bottom of the dish, Microwave for 10-12 minutes. When one half is cooked, pull the squash out and set aside, repeat with second half.
• While the squash is cooking, add garlic, onions & ground beef to a pan on the stove over medium/high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until meet is browned. 
• Add tomatoes & broccoli, stir
• Add pizza sauce, 1/2 cup water and spices (basil, oregano & crushed red pepper flakes)
• While the meat mixture simmers, use a fork to scrape the spaghetti squash into strands. I find that doing this over a big bowl is easiest & helps to contain the mess. Then I just dump all of the scraped squash into the pan with the meat mixture. Stir to combine
• Now that the squash is done cooking in your pyrex dish, you can use that same dish to bake the casserole. Dump out the water & grease the dish with coconut oil
• Transfer meat/squash mixture to baking dish, bake in oven for 20-30 minutes until bubbly.
• Enjoy!

 

Recipe adapted from Mark's Daily Apple