Recipe: Spaghetti Squash.w/ Meat Sauce

I have been hearing a lot about Spaghetti Squash, especially since changing up our eating habits.

We had purchased a spaghetti squash during our Whole30 and tonight was the lucky night!

I wasn't sure how time consuming it was, I kept thinking "oh, I'll just make pasta tonight -as long as we don't eat it often it should be fine... The spaghetti squash seems so difficult!  I'll just try making it another time..." But it kept bugging me, the thought of feeding my family pasta after how well we've been doing.  So I sucked it up and thought "okay, I'll try it. If it becomes too messy or too annoying, I'll just boil some pasta. It won't take that long anyway..."

I threw the ingredients together for my meat sauce:

1 lb lean ground beef 

1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes

1 small onion (slice or chopped. We love cooked onion so I like chunky pieces or even thick slices)

2 tsp minced garlic (or approximately 3-4 garlic cloves)

2-3 tomatoes, again, sliced or chopped to preference (I leave mine chunky to give more texture)

3 handfuls if baby spinach leaves

2 handfuls of sliced mushrooms

*optional: shredded carrots

1/2 tsp sea salt

1tsp Sage

1tsp Italian seasoning (the one I have is a mixture of marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano, and basil)

1/4 tsp paprika (or something spicier if you like a good 'kick')

I ground the beef, on a medium-high heat, with 2tsp coconut oil, and the onions and garlic. Then I add the veggies and toss it around. I add the spices and mix it around a bit. I add the crushed tomatoes last.  Once it starts to bubble just a bit, I lower the heat to a high-simmer, cover and leave the heat on for approximately 15 mins (until everything is tender and heated all the way. It normally starts to bubble again right around the 15 mins.).

I had already prepped my spaghetti squash last night, I thought to make it for yesterday's dinner. One of my favorite blogs, for Paleo recipes, right now is Nom Nom Paleo. I followed her directions for Spaghetti Squash.  Mine needed extra cooking time but turned out great!  And even though I really had no idea what I was doing, we were able to sit down and enjoy spaghetti squash, topped with meat sauce. (Although, will someone please tell me if it's normal for it to have a slight "crunch" to it... I enjoyed the crunch! Haha. I hope I got it right.)

I really enjoyed it!  But Chris only ate half of his serving, saying it was "good" but it was "different".  Hm...  And Kj didn't get to taste it tonight (she's getting over a stomach bug tonight).

It's definitely something I look forward to eating again and it sure filled my 'spaghetti' craving!