I am all about easy dinner and lunch ideas, simplicity. I have learned that I do best with simple ingredients and honestly could eat the same thing same over and over again for my meals. My passion truly lies in baking and sweet treats...as if you haven't noticed!! I do try to give my readers ideas for dinners that are satisfying and most importantly taste good. So often I am asked for meal ideas and that is one of the main reasons I created this site.
This Italian Stuffed Spaghetti Squash Recipe is a fairly easy idea full of flavor! The stuffing is the recipe I use for my lasagne (recipe below) with the addition of ricotta, mozzarella and yellow squash (or rice noodles if you eat rice). I can't eat dairy, but this is awesome without the cheese and I use thin slices of yellow squash as the noodles. I added grated parmesan cheese to the top of one squash for the dairy eating crowd and left one cheeseless.
Italian Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
Ingredients
- 1 large spaghetti squash
- 1 lb Italian sausage
- 1/2 lb grass-fed ground beef
- 1/2 cup onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/4 tsp ground pepper
- 1/8 cup fresh parsley, minced
- 1 can (28oz) plum tomatoes
- 3 cans tomato paste
- 1/2 cup water
- parmesan or mozzarella cheese (optional)
Instructions
- With a fork, poke holes in the spaghetti squash so it can “breath” and bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes depending on the size of squash
- While squash is cooking, saute the sausage over medium high heat in a large sauce pan, about 3-4 minutes
- Add the beef, onion and garlic until brown. Drain the grease
- Add the salt, basil, fennel, pepper and parsley
- Place the tomatoes in a bowl and mash. Add the paste and water to the tomatoes and pour mixture into the meat
- Simmer and cover until squash is done cooking
- Remove Squash once it is easy to pierce with a fork and cut it into two halves lengthwise
- Scrape out the seeds and fill each side with the meat
- Top with cheese and place under the broiler for the cheese to melt and brown (optional)
- Scrape the squash to form spaghetti and enjoy!!!
Variations
To make lasagne, follow all of the directions above for the sauce and let simmer covered for 1 1/2 hours. In a small bowl, combine 2 cups ricotta cheese, 3 eggs (beaten) and an additional 1/8 cup of fresh parsley. Place a layer of noodles or squash on the bottom of a greased 9×13 dish. Cover with 1 1/2 cups of sauce, half of the ricotta mixture, 1/4 cup parmesan and 1/2 of the mozzarella (half of a 3/4lb bag). Repeat layering ending with sauce and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 covered for 25 minutes, remove cover and bake an additional 20 minutes.
