Favorite Recipe of the Week: Spaghetti Squash with Meat Sauce

Okay. So being that some things have MAJORLY changed in my life over the past couple of weeks, I am going to be using this blog as a platform to talk about that, too. Writing is a coping mechanism for me, so I apologize ahead of time. If you do not want to read all of my relationship (or lack there of) talk, skip to the part about my WOD's and recipes, at the bottom ;)

After my ex continued to contact me, even though he was the one that wanted this, I had to ask him to "please stop." For someone that wanted "space," I don't think that still contacting the person you needed that space from every day is exactly the way to do that. That was probably the hardest thing for me to do, being that I liked hearing from him every day. It at least let me know that he was still thinking about me. But after reading two books, It's Called a Break Up Because It's Broken and The Get Back Plan (basically two polar opposites, lol) I took their good advice and decided to give him 30 days without any contact. So this is what I am currently living. 30 days of no contact with someone that I had spent almost every day with for 6+ years. I may not have been married, but this damn sure feels like a divorce.

I have not lived with my parents since I was 18 and never thought I'd be back. That being said, I am so very grateful for them and literally don't know what I would do without them. But after a week of bad food, lots of beer and happy hours with friends, this week I am getting back to the grind. I plan on taking care of myself (continue to eat mostly paleo and CrossFitting 3-4x a week) and working on ME. Being with someone for all of my young adult life, I don't even know how to be alone anymore. So this is a new chapter in my life where I have myself and my dog to look after, and my family and friends to lean on.

This is a new me. Stronger. More independent. And I'm not sure what else because I'm making it up as I go along (lol).


Favorite Recipe of the Week: Spaghetti Squash with Meat Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 Spaghetti Squash (each half serves about one person)
• 1 Can of Sauce
• 1 lb. Ground Meat of Choice
• Cheese, if you like

This is one of the easiest, low-calorie meals that you can make. If you are a vegetarian, you can just leave out the meat!

First, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Cut the squash in half, lengthwise. This can be very hard to do, so use extreme caution... and a sharp knife! Once you have the squash cut in half, run it under cold water to remove all of the guts and seeds, like you would with a pumpkin, with your fingers. Next, place the two halves rind-side-up on a baking sheet for 30 minutes.

While that's roasting, start your sauce. First you will brown your meat and then add the sauce and meat together in a pan while you wait until your squash is done.

Then take the squash out of the oven and use a fork to scrape the insides of each squash until you have a good amount of the spaghetti-like strands pulled away from the squash's sides, leaving it in the squash "bowl." Place the squash back on the baking sheet, rind-side-down this time, add some (meat) sauce overtop and put it back in the oven for 20-30 more minutes. If you want to add cheese, do so for the last 5 minutes so it melts but doesn't burn. Ta-da! Dinner is ready :)

I prefer to eat my spaghetti squash in the 'shell' simply because I hate dishes. But there are plenty of folks that like to do the second step of this recipe in a baking dish. Instead, after the first 30 minutes, they would scrape out all of the "noodles" into a baking dish, add the sauce to that and then bake that dish. It's all personal preference. I just personally think that it's much more fun to eat out of the squash itself.. and it's so much more primal (jk, kinda).

Let me know when you try this and how you liked it! It's definitely an interesting taste that isn't for everyone. But give it a go at least once and it may turn out that you LOVE it.