Trying New Foods: Spaghetti Squash & a Recipe

One of the things that I love when I pick up my fresh produce from Bountiful Baskets are those times when I get a new fruit or veggie that we have never tried before. Back in April, my basket came with 2 spaghetti squash. Now, I've seen them in the produce section at my grocery but I've never bought one & I've never eaten one. But since I had 2 of them, I needed to figure out how to cook them.

The ladies that run my local Bountiful Baskets location are always very helpful when I ask about something new that I've never tried before. They told me that spaghetti squash are easy to cook: Just poke holes all over it & stick it in the microwave, then you cut it open & use a fork to "shred" the insides & it will look like spaghetti. Simple enough!

But I thought that there had to be a better, more flavorful way to cook this squash so I started looking through cookbooks & searching on the internet. What I ended up with is a recipe that I found scribbled on a piece of paper in the back of one of my old cookbooks for making Lasagna Stuffed Spaghetti Squash. Now that's more like it! So here is the recipe that I used:

Ingredients:

2 spaghetti squash, halved & seeded

1 Tablespoon oil

1 pound Italian sausage

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 jar (24 oz.) spaghetti sauce

1/2 Cup part-skim ricotta cheese

1/4 Cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 Cup shredded Italian Five Cheese Blend, divided

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Brush cut sides of squash with oil & place, cut sides down, on a baking sheet. 

Bake 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook sausage with onions & garlic in large skillet on medium heat 10 minutes or until sausage is done, stirring frequently. Stir in spaghetti sauce & simmer 10 minutes, stirring frequently. 

Remove from heat.

Combine ricotta, parmesan & 1/2 cup Italian cheese. 

Place squash halves on baking sheet. 

Fill with layers of ricotta mixture, meat sauce & remaining Italian cheese. 

Bake 10 - 20 minutes, or until heated through. Cut in half to serve.

Our house smelled so GOOD while this was cooking & we could hardly wait to try it. I served it with a big green salad & garlic toast. It was well worth the wait. We loved it!! Now I know what to make every time I get a spaghetti squash!

This is not my photo but this is almost exactly

what my Lasagna Stuffed Spaghetti Squash looked like.

When I have another new-to-us food that we're trying, I'll be back to share it with you!