Spaghetti Squash W/ Herb Sauce

If you haven't yet tried spaghetti squash, you surely are missing out! Not only does it taste wonderful, the texture is amazing and it's totally satisfying to your pasta cravings and desires... minus the carbs!

When you think about it, plain pasta really has no taste... what you put on it is what really makes it a pasta dish. We love adding vegan pesto, meat sauce or vegan alfreado sauce to make a pasta dish taste great! The wonderful think about pasta "alternatives" (like a red lentil pasta or spaghetti squash) is that you can acheive that same dish minus the carbs and extra calories. Let's be honest... it's a win-win!

One thing I must warn you about spaghetti squash is that it's quite a fight to cut one open, and I don't recommend trying. The first time I tried to do it, my husband and I felt as if we were sword fighting with a vegetable and losing terribly. When we finally reached success, it was totally worth what was inside... spaghetti!

After that fight with this amazing vegetable, I decided that I needed to find another way to do this, because I did not want to chance cutting open my hand for some carb-less pasta. One day, I was watching Rachael Ray and one of her guests was talking about an easier way to make spaghetti sqaush and my whole world changed. Though the process takes a whole lot longer than sword fighting, it's safer and not as scary.

If you want to make this for dinner, plan on cooking your spaghetti sqaush ahead of time... it will take 4 hours to cook the spaghetti squash, alone!

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INGREDIENTS:

1 large spaghetti squash

2 cups liquid (broth or water)

Herb Sauce Ingredients:

1-2 TB Extra Virgin Olive Oil + 1/3 cup olive oil

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/3 cup fresh sage

3 TB fresh rosemary

1 cup fresh parsley

3-4 garlic cloves (or more)

3 TB lemon juice

1/4 cup toasted pecans

1/4 cup grated sheep romano (optional)

Topping:

1 TB dairy free butter

2 pieces of ezekial toast (for breadcrumbs)

For Whole30 or Paleo, omit sheep romano cheese and topping.

For Vegan, omit sheep romano cheese

Directions:

First, take your spaghetti squash and puncture it at least 4-6 times on either side. This will allow the inside to steam and cook over the next 4 hours.

Pour about 2 cups of vegetable broth, chicken broth or water into your crockpot. Place your spaghetti sqaush in the crockpot for 4 hours on high temperature.

After 4 hours, your spaghetti squash will be nice and soft and easy to cut.

Cut in half (the long way) and spoon/fork out the seeds. Then using a fork, gather all of your "spaghetti" from your squash. You will see how it's already formed into angel hair type pasta ready to eat.

Take your onions and sautee in 1-2 TB olive oil on medium high to high heat. Once the onions are translucent, add in your garlic, sage and rosemary and sautee for about 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Cool mixture.

Pour the onion and herb mixture into your blender or VitaMix, with lemon juice, 1/3 cup olive oil, romano cheese, pecans and blend until almost smooth. If you prefer a smoother texture, blend on high.

Pour the herb sauce over spaghetti sqash noodles and mix until completely coverd and then pour in sprayed baking dish.

Toast two pieces of your Ezekial toast. Place them in a food processor or finely crumble with your hands (though that will scratch the surface of your fingertips).

Take 2 TB of vegan butter, melt on medium/medium high heat in skillet. Pour crumbled toast into the skilled once butter is melted until breadcrumbs turn golden brown.

Pour the toasted breadcrumbs on top of the spaghetti sqaush.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

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