Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Harvest is a great time to do some food swapping to get some nice garden veggies. Especially if you're like me, and you don't have a garden. Thus, that's just what I did. I made some cookies and swapped them for 3 very LARGE spaghetti squash. When my husband and I were meal planning, he suggested I make a spaghetti squash casserole…. a what? I had never heard of it, nor had I obviously ever made one or eaten one. I thought, what the heck, I'll give it a go. It was my blank canvas and I could do whatever I pleased with this meal, and hope it tasted all right at the end of it all. It was a success, and so easy too! (gluten free, can be vegan and dairy free if butter is omitted or substituted)

Thus I give you my recipe for: SPAGHETTI SQUASH CASSEROLE

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash (being so monstrous, we used only half of one and I froze the other cooked half for a later meal)

1 medium zucchini - chopped

4-5 mushrooms- chopped

2 bell peppers - chopped

Homemade Marinara Sauce (see recipe and directions below)

Directions:

First things first, cut your spaghetti squash in half, clean out the pulp and seeds, prick it with a fork, and add some chunks of butter (or substitute, or omit it completely). Put the squash halves on a lipped baking sheet or oven safe dish, with a bit of water in the bottom of the dish, and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour (cooking time will depend on the size of your squash). It's best to do this an hour or two before you would normally start preparing supper, so it's ready to go when it's time to assemble your casserole.

Once the squash is cooked, scrape out the flesh and put a nice layer down in a 9x13 baking dish.

Chop up the mushrooms, peppers and zucchini and layer them over the squash.

Smear the marinara sauce over the top and then put back in the over for about 30-40 minutes, or until everything is heated through.

Take out and enjoy! This amount fed 3 of us for dinner and has given us leftovers for 3 days. It made A LOT of food. Adjust the amount of squash and veggies depending on how many people you're feeding.

Now for the Marinara Sauce. I'm a habitual jar sauce girl. My entire life, that's all I've done and Classico has become a good friend. I wanted to see if I could make this sauce from scratch using no canned goods of any kind, at all. I got the recipe from Kimberly Snyders website in her recipe for raw lasagna. It turned out pretty amazing, even though it was a bit on the thick side (I added too many sundried tomatoes), but it still tasted awesome.

MARINARA SAUCE

Ingredients:

3 large organic tomatoes
3 1/2 cups sundried tomatoes (if you purchase the ones that are dried, you'll need to soak them for an hour or so)
1/2 cup white onion
2 medium garlic cloves
3/4 tsp of celtic or himalayan sea salt
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

Directions:

Create the marinara sauce in the blender. Add the fresh tomatoes first, blending them with the onion, sea salt, garlic and fresh basil. Add the sundried tomatoes last, after you have blended the rest of the ingredients, since they are harder. They give the sauce a nice, thick consistency.

And that's all! Deliciousness ensues with this healthy and yummy supper! Hope you try it out and enjoy :D

Happy Eating!