Baked Spaghetti Squash and Cheese

Sometimes we all just need a little comfort food.  This is a great healthy spin to the Mac N Cheese we all love.

When I first had spaghetti squash, I wasn't not so sure about it.  I mean I love pasta and all its carb glory (my waist line doesn't hehe).  I've made this dish a few times and I love it more and more.  We even once tried the dish with rice cheese.  It still tasted great, however we still prefer to use regular cheddar cheese (my husband the cheese snob).

Baked Spaghetti Squash and Cheese

Ingredients:

5 1/2 cups cooked spaghetti squash (2 small or 1 large)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup minced onion
1/4 cup flour
2 cups Almond Milk
1 cup vegetable broth
8 oz mild cheddar cheese
salt and pepper, to taste
1/8 cup grated parmesan

Optional Add-in:
Baby spinach

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.  Cut squash lengthwise and remove and discard seeds.  Place squash face up on a baking sheet.  Bake until tender, about 1 hour.  Keep oven on at same temp when done.

3.  Separate the strands of squash with a fork and place in a medium bowl and discard the shells.  Be careful it will be very hot.

4.  Heat butter and oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onions and cook about 2 minutes.

5.  Stir in flour.  Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring continually 3-4 minutes.

6.  Add milk and vegetable broth and continue whisking, raising heat to medium/high until is comes to a boil and becomes smooth and thick, about 2 minutes.  You can season here with salt and pepper.

7.  Remove from heat once thick and add the cheddar cheese.  Mix well until cheese is melted.

8.  Pour cheese mix over the spaghetti squash and mix together.  Pour into prepared baking dish (11x7) and sprinkle with Parmesan on top.

9.  Bake until bubbly and golden, about 25-30 minutes.  I like to broil the top for about a minute.

* For an easy clean up, line the baking dish with foil and spray with non stick spray.

This can also be frozen as well after baking.

Grown up Tacos (aka Chickpea tacos)

We all love Taco Tuesdays!  This is a dish that brings back Taco Tuesday as a vegetarian option and you don't miss the meat.

Since we are vegetarian at home, I had to find ways to incorporate our favorite food and still be healthy and meatless.  Yes, there are ground meatless meat options that have "mexican" spices.  However, those options often have soy and I am trying to cut back on my soy intake for health reasons.  I found this great recipe and have adapted it to our liking.

Some tips regarding the recipe:

- When you sauté the chickpeas, you are only heating them through, not cooking them.  Be careful as you only want to evaporate the liquid, not dry out the chickpeas.

- Top them with something moist, such as guacamole or plain greek yogurt (sour cream works too).

Recipe:
Adapted from: Coffee and Quinoa

1 tsp vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 red onion, minced
2 cups cooked chickpeas (aka Garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
4 tsp taco seasoning or 1/2 packet of your favorite taco seasoning mix
1/4 cup water
2 Tablespoons cilantro

Instructions:

1.  In a small bowl, combine taco seasoning and water.
2. In a large pan, heat oil over medium heat.  Once heated, add garlic and onion and sauté until onion is soft, 3-4 minutes.
3. Pour in chickpeas and taco seasoning, stir to combine.  Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the chickpeas are heated through and some water is evaporated, 2-3 minutes.
4.  Serve in taco shells, with guacamole, plain yogurt, lime wedge, chopped lettuce and cheese.
* We baked the taco shells with some shredded cheese inside until it was melted so the cheese won't fall out.

Black Bean and Quinoa

This is a dish can be served many different ways.  I like this recipe as it is a one skillet dish and it is easy to make if you need to serve something in a snap.  This dish has a ton of protein with the quinoa and the black beans.

A quote from a co worker of mine "I would not miss meat with this dish".

Ingredients

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
3/4 cup uncooked rinsed quinoa
1 teaspoon cumin
1 1/12 cups vegetable broth
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (if you want spicier increase to 1/4 tsp)
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 cup frozen corn
2 cans of black beans (15 ounce each) drained and rinsed
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Toppings
Shredded Cheese
Guacamole
Plain yogurt, or sour cream
Salsa
Tomatoes

Directions:

1. Rinse the quinoa in a strainer.  This helps to take out the bitter taste on the outside of the seed.  (Quinoa is a seed, not a grain.  Ill leave that for another post). 

2. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Stir in the onion and garlic.  Saute until the onion is soft and almost opaque.  Maybe about 5 minutes.

3. Add the quinoa and vegetable broth to the pan.  Add the cumin and cayanne pepper.  Bring mixture to a boil and then cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Stir in lime juice and frozen corn into the pan and simmer for 5 minutes or until the corn is heated through.

5.  Transfer the quinoa mixture into a big mixing bowl and combine the black beans and cilantro.

Makes at least 5 servings.  If making as tostadas makes about 10 servings.

This can be served as tostadas (pictured above), burritos, tacos or you can just enjoy it the way it is.