Spaghetti Squash

Hi Everyone! Hope you’re all having a wonderful  Monday, i’m just glad my day is over and its finally time to relax and do some cooking. I put Dutch in charge of picking out what to cook tonight and he picked these goodies up at Kroger..

After assessing our produce picks we decided to make spaghetti squash with roasted vegetables and homemade tomato sauce. On the side, a massaged kale salad with mango, Asian pear, and walnuts.

Spaghetti Squash with Roasted Vegetables and Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

1 medium spaghetti squash

1 eggplant

1 zucchini

2 cloves garlic

2 cans diced tomatoes

1/4 c plus 2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

salt

pepper

Directions: Halve spaghetti squash and scoop out seeds, place face down in a pyrex dish with about an inch of water. Put the squash into a 400 degree preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes or until just tender. While the squash is cooking combine the tomatoes, 1/4 c olive oil, one clove of garlic, parsley, oregano, and basil in a pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Once the mixture comes to a boil give it a stir and simmer 30 minutes over low heat. In the meantime cube the eggplant and zucchini and place it on a baking sheet. Toss with 1 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper and roast 20-25 minutes stirring once.  After the spaghetti squash is just tender using a fork flake the squash so it looks like little strands of spaghetti. Toss with 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 clove of garlic in a pan over medium heat and saute for a few minutes until some of the water has evaporated. Once the squash mixture has cooked down about ten minutes toss with the eggplant, zucchini and 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce. Garnish with dried herbs, salt, and pepper to taste.

perfectly roasted eggplant and zucchini

I prefer my tomato sauce chunky but if you want a smooth sauce use a potato masher to break up tomatoes.

tasting the sauce and adjusting the seasonings

final product:

it was delicious! the tomato sauce added so much flavor to the silky strands of spaghetti squash and the roasted veggies were just perfect with it!

Yum-O!

For our side dish Dutch prepared a massaged kale salad which went quite well with our squash.

Until recently kale was always something I found to be intimidating, but after viewing Aarti prepare a massaged kale salad on food network I have become obsessed with this nutrient rich green. Now kale can be found in everything from my salads to pasta and even smoothies, but this recipe is one of my absolute favorites!

Massaged Kale Salad

Ingredients:

1 bunch of kale

2 tbsp olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

2 tsp honey

1 mango

1 Asian pear

1/4 c walnuts toasted

Directions: In a large bowl combine kale, half a lemon and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Using hands massage the kale for about 2 minutes or until wilted. Once kale has wilted down quite a bit combine the rest of the lemon juice, olive oil, and honey in a small bowl. Whisk together until combined and drizzle over salad. Add walnuts, salt, and pepper to taste and toss together!

The flavors of the salad came together just perfectly.

Dutch decided our vegetarian meal was not enough protein for his muscles and prepared  himself a steak on the side. Yes that is our chefs knife he is using to cut his meat… haha. After feeding half his protein to the dog he declared my veggie meal to be sooo much better.