Spaghetti squash is one of those vegetables which I added to my continued quest of including unfamiliar foods to my plate. It’s considered a winter squash; Even though it’s called spaghetti squash it taste nothing like pasta in fact, it’s still delicious. The string like fibers found within the squash however does resemble spaghetti.
I already love this vegetable (technically because it has seed we all know it’s really a fruit) if it’s not over cooked it can be nice and crunchy. If you know me you know I like most of my vegetables with a bit of crunch.
Like other squash, spaghetti squash has a hard outer core. It’s important to use a sharp knife in order to cut the squash in half. Use care when sectioning the squash in half. Remove the seeds from the squash, like other squash you may either discard the seeds or bake and use the seeds for later.
Sprinkle spices on the two halves of the squash. Bake the squash on a greased cooking sheet. Place them face down on the baking sheet cooking for 45 minutes at 400 degrees. Once cool shred the pulp from the spaghetti squash. The squash is editable at this point, however now is the time to get creative.
I decided to make spaghetti squash with chicken sausage, a jar of prepared spaghetti sauce, spices, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, and cheese.
Cut the sausage into bite size pieces. Slice the mushrooms and chopped the other vegetables and herbs to be used in the dish.
In a skillet saute’ the sausage in a small amount of vegetable, when brown remove from pan and set aside. Add a small amount of oil to the pan if needed to cook the vegetables and herb. Add the mushrooms to the mix before onions become fully translucent.
Return the sausage and squash back to the skillet mixture.
Add the prepared spaghetti sauce and mix all the ingredients together.
Top the dish with grated cheese of your choice. I used Pepper Jack, it gave the spaghetti squash and chicken sausage a wonderful punch of flavor. Bake the dish for 10 minutes to melt the cheese over the spaghetti squash.
Remove the dish from the oven and enjoy your spaghetti squash and chicken sausage with cheese. Happy Eating!
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- 1 spaghetti squash, halved and deseeded
- 3 chicken sausage links
- ½ cup grated Pepper Jack cheese
- 1 cup prepared spaghetti sauce
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ¼ cup chopped onions
- ½ cup chopped green peppers
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- ½ teaspoon fresh thyme or dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon Rosemary or (Italian Spice Blend)
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Sprinkle spices on the two halves of the squash. Bake the squash on a greased cooking sheet. Place them face down on the baking sheet cooking for 40 minutes at 400 degrees.
- In a skillet saute' the sausage in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, when the sausage is brown remove it from the pan and set it aside.
- Add the last tablespoon of oil to the pan if needed to cook the vegetables and herb. Add the mushrooms to the mixture before the onions become fully translucent.
- Return the sausage and squash back to the skillet mixture.
- Add the prepared spaghetti sauce and mix all the ingredients together.
- Place the mixture into a baking dish and grated cheese on top.
- Bake for 10 minutes in 400- degree oven.
- Serve immediately
