Little One loves her veggies. She simply inhales them. Her favourites are vegetables that are green, orange, or red. Except for raw tomatoes. Stewed, roasted, or just cooked tomatoes are fine. She just doesn’t like them raw. I won’t complain though. I’m just happy she loves her veg! If you ask her what her favourite foods are, she’ll say “Beef, cucumber, broccoli, and zucchini!”
When you’ve got lots of produce from the garden or market, what do you make? You make…
Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti!
It’s super fun and our four year old thinks it’s absolutely the coolest thing ever! With vegetables fresh from your garden or from the Farmers’ Market, you can make a variety of dishes that are vegetable laden and in season! I do get the hankering for fruit and veg that are not local to the Island every now and then, but I try to use what we have access to. The following recipe is one of our family’s favourites. Even Hubby, who said he needs meat with his meals, says this dish is hearty enough to sustain a hungry farmer.
- 2 spaghetti squash, whole
- 2 zucchini, diced
- 2 eggplant (the long kind of aubergine), diced
- Tomato Sauce, 640 mL (can, jar or homemade)
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 carrot, peeled and diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- ½ c mushrooms, sliced
- oil for cooking
- salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash spaghetti squash and cut in half. Remove seeds by scraping them out.
- Place spaghetti squash in a baking dish cut side facing down. I add a little bit of water to the dish so the squash doesn't stick to the bottom.
- Bake squash in oven for 50 to 55 minutes.
- Wash and dice up all your vegetables.
- In a large pot, over medium heat, add a little oil for cooking and sautee garlic and onion. Once onion is translucent, add diced carrots, zucchini, and other vegetables. Leave the mushrooms until last, because they cook quickly.
- Once vegetables are cooked until tender, add tomato sauce. I make my own, but store-bought sauce may be used as well.
- Season with salt and pepper. Let vegetable sauce simmer.
- Remove squash from oven when cooked. Be careful, as the squash will be very hot. When cool enough to touch, with a fork, scrape the insides of the squash. The result is spaghetti-like strands of squash. This will be your spaghetti "noodles".
- Place spaghetti squash "noodles" on a plate and ladle vegetable spaghetti sauce on top. You can sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top, add a shot of hot sauce or freshly chopped parsley on top.
- Enjoy!
I’ve always wanted to try spaghetti squash in a dish like this. Don’t know why I haven’t yet. This looks yummy 🙂
I know a lot of people who hate raw tomatoes. It’s a texture thing. I’m not one of them, I ADORE tomatoes. But they do say that cooked tomatoes are even more healthy than raw, so if she is going to like one vs. the other, cooked is better than raw. No caprese salad for you guys, I guess.
I have a spaghetti squash ‘pasta’ recipe that is pretty similar, though it uses sausage instead of beef. We don’t have a beef farm. 😉 Though we did have a big rib eye for dinner the other night, so we’re in full support.
J:
Mmmmmm! I like the idea of using sausage in this recipe! When I make this one, I don’t usually use any meat at all, but Hubby and Little One certainly do love their meat!
Hubs and I love tomatoes, both cooked and raw. You’re right about the texture part. I think that’s why Little One doesn’t like them raw. She loves them cooked though! Mmm…Now I want Caprese Salad!!