Roasted Italian Spaghetti Squash Casserole



My family eats pretty healthy.  We buy the majority of our vegetables from the local farmer’s market.  We try to eat organic.  We try to eat what is in season.  However, I feel like I can definitely do a better job of sneaking more vegetables into our meals.  I am also very aware of how much my son LOVES carbs, any and all carbs.  He has been known to sift through meals to find only the pieces of pasta, even with high levels of encouragement to eat everything else.  He is not easily fooled either.  On the nights when I have tried a ‘pasta’  dishes with strictly spaghetti squash or zucchini pasta, he catches on rather quickly.  My thought with this dish was to begin introducing more vegetables while reducing our consumption of pasta. 

I also struggle with substituting spaghetti squash for pasta because I miss the texture and spaghetti squash seems to make things more ‘juicy’.  I like thick and hearty pasta dishes and feel that spaghetti squash tends to thin sauces too much. 

I decided to use spaghetti squash and our typical brown rice pasta to give my son the pasta he loves and give me the texture.  I then added nutritional yeast to thicken the sauce and add a ‘cheesy’ flavor.  I didn’t know how ‘creamy’ the dish would turn out, nor how the different flavors and textures would work together.  This dish was a hit with everyone in the family, definitely kid approved!

 

Roasted Spaghetti Squash Italian Casserole (Serves 6-8)

2 spaghetti squash (I didn’t weigh mine but they were medium in size)
Olive oil (preferably in a Mist-O spray bottle)
1 lb grass-fed beef
1 – 1.5 C clean spaghetti sauce
1-2 C chopped spinach
6-8 oz baby portabella mushrooms (diced)
1 small to medium onion, chopped
Garlic powder
1-2 TBS oregano
¼ C Nutritional Yeast (plus more for the top if you want)
4 oz whole wheat or gluten free pasta (optional)
Salt to taste
 

Preheat oven to 400.  Slice spaghetti squash in half length-wise and put on a cookie sheet cut side up.  Spray with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder (to your liking).  Roast the squash in the oven for 50 minutes, or until you can easily stick a fork in the squash.

 

This is what spaghetti squash looks like after roasting/baking.  It should be easy to remove the 'meat' of the squash for your dish.  You may want to use two forks to separate the pieces and avoid any large clumps of squash.

While the squash is roasting, sauté the onion in a skillet (I used cast iron) with a little olive oil.  Sprinkle with a little salt (1/2 tsp) to ‘sweat’ the onion.  Once the onion is opaque add ground beef and cook thoroughly. (Now is also a good time to cook your pasta according to the package if you are using it.) Add mushrooms and some garlic powder (1/2 to 1 tsp or to taste) to the mixture and sauté for 5 minutes.  Add your spaghetti sauce and cook for 3 more minutes.  You may need to turn off this mixture for a little while as your spaghetti squash continues to roast.  If you turn the heat off, turn it back on when the squash is finished.  Add the spaghetti squash to the pan along with the spinach and cook until the spinach begins to wilt.  I used two forks to separate the different pieces of my spaghetti squash; I wanted it throughout the dish and not in lumps.   Add the pasta and the nutritional yeast, combine all ingredients thoroughly. 

Place all ingredients in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes (top with additional nutritional yeast if desired).  The reason I used a cast iron skillet is so I would not need to transfer ingredients from one dish to another for baking.  However, if you do not have an oven-safe skillet, you will need to transfer this to a baking dish.  I would add a little olive oil on the bottom to prevent sticking. 

My husband and I added red pepper flakes to ours and some Celtic salt.  Please add additional spices as you see fit.  This dish was creamy and delicious.  It is definitely something we will have again.

Finished product!