Well hello there! It has literally been AGES since I’ve posted a recipe for you, huh? I think it’s partly because RM and I do a lot of cooking at his house (read: he does a lot of cooking and I do a lot of eating) and I’ve been pretty boring with my weekly meals that I cook for lunches and dinners to eat when I’m home. This past weekend, though, my sister and I walked to the grocery store before the snow started and then stayed hunkered down inside for the rest of the night, which left lots of time for cooking! I made a Mexican-style chicken, veggie & bean soup and an incredibly healthy and delicious Turkey & Veggie Spaghetti Squash casserole.

A long time ago, I posted this Spaghetti Squash Casserole recipe, which was a big hit, so I figured a slight variation on it would turn out as good. Luckily for us, it did! I think I actually liked it better, but the jury is still out on that one.

What I love about meals like this is that they don’t take much time to put together, they’re pretty easy to make and they don’t really require measuring. All of my measurements below are approximations, but at then end of the day, it’s up to you to decide how much you want to make. If you end up making too much veggie & meat “stuffing”, just save it for later in the week to put in a quesadilla or on a salad. Easy enough, right? I ended up having about 1/4 of the package of ground turkey leftover so I put it in a container and will plan to use it soon.

Ingredients

• Ground turkey (for the dish, I used about 3/4 of a pound, I think)
• 2 small spaghetti squash or 1 medium one
• About 1/2 red pepper, chopped
• About 1/2 of an onion, chopped
• 1 medium-large summer squash, chopped
• 1 small-medium head of broccoli, chopped
• 1 Laughing Cow wedge
• 1/2-1 cup tomato sauce
• Small handful of cheese for the top
• EVOO
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• Salt, pepper, seasonings of your choice- to taste

Directions

1. Cook the spaghetti squash, either by boiling it (I like this way because it cooks faster) or by baking it. Once it’s cooked, use a fork to shred it into ‘spaghetti’.

2. While the spaghetti squash is cooking, preheat the oven to 350* , chop your veggies and sautee over medium heat until they are cooked (but not over cooked!).

3. Once the veggies are cooked, place in a big bowl and use the same pan to brown your ground turkey (or chicken or beef).

4. Add the cooked meat to the veggies and add in the Laughing Cow cheese wedge. If you don’t have any of these, cream cheese is a great substitution! Once this is all mixed together, add in the spaghetti squash and sauce and mix well.

5. Place the mixture in an oven-safe dish, top with a little shredded cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges are bubbling. I finished mine off with a few minutes under the broiler to get the nice, crispy look on the top.

This meal was so healthy and delicious and I enjoyed taking it for lunch throughout the week. Pasta can really bog you down and make you feel like you’re in a carb-coma, so using spaghetti squash instead is a great way to fill you up, but leave you feeling full of energy instead of ready for a nap 🙂

Questions for you: Do you ever replace spaghetti with spaghetti squash? What’s your favorite casserole?