Spaghetti Squash Boat

Let me start out by saying....

I

LOVE

PASTA.

Like really love pasta.

When I was little my very fav meal was my Gma's macaroni made with butter & cream topped with salt & pepper. It was total comfort food and it was total bliss. It was the only thing I remember wanting to eat when I was sick. And, honestly it's still one of my go-to things when I'm feeling icky and when nothing else sounds good....for some reason that always does.

But, as so many of us know, pasta....at least pasta as I knew it growing up...has become one of those things that can wreak havoc with weight loss. I honestly will NEVER give up my "real comfort food" pasta but I've come to really enjoy some substitutes! I like quinoa pasta. I like many of the whole grain pastas I've tried. AND, I really REALLY like spaghetti squash. I've used it in so many different recipes in the place of pasta and most of the time now I don't even feel like I'm depriving myself.

This week I decided to try it on the grill and then filled with spaghetti "sauce." But, since the typical spaghetti sauce my husband loves isn't on my nutrition plan, I had to get creative. Enter in ground turkey!

Here's what I did:

Split a spaghetti squash in half ~ coat with EVOO and garlic ~ spread tinfoil out on the grill and grill it for an hour between 350 to 400 (I have a hard time controlling temp on the grill! When I bake them or put them in the toaster oven, I typically will bake at 375 for an hour) ~  do flip them over about halfway thru. I like to cook for an hour or so because I like it very soft.

While that was grilling, I browned up a big tube of lean ground turkey (I typically use Jennie-O 93% lean), garlic, big chunks of onion (wish I would've had even more veggies like peppers, etc.), crushed red pepper flakes and then added in fire roasted diced tomatoes (this is a great option vs. jarred or canned spaghetti sauce that may have sugar added...it's hard to find no sugar added sauces where I live) and fresh mushrooms at the very end.

I then took the squash off the grill, filled the halves with the mixture of turkey and topped with 2% colby jack....I wanted to do mozzarella but didn't have any. It was great that night and I think even better as leftovers the next day!

I will work on simplifying instructions AND will list nutritional values more often as I start adding more recipe ideas!  

Try and ENJOY!