The other week when I went to the grocery store, I spotted a spaghetti squash & had one of those moments where you stare at a food item and wonder if you can make it. Is that just me? Spur of the moment decision made to learn how to make it, I popped it into my basket and moved on. This week I had the inspiration to combine the spaghetti squash with zucchini to make a Spaghetti Squash and Zucchini Noodle Pasta.
It was SUCH a good idea — the whole family loved it and there weren’t really any ingredients in it that I was like, hmm this isn’t good for us! Probably the most time consuming parts of this recipe was waiting for the spaghetti squash to come out of the oven (45mins!) and using a julienne vegetable peeler to do the zucchini. Or you can use a spiralizer!
I took one medium sized spaghetti squash and cut it in half. Scoop out those seeds before popping it in the oven! In a bit of water, the 2 halves were placed face down with the rind sides up. Since it was my first time doing the squash, I put it in for 45 mins at around 350F (can be 375F). I cut the squash lengthwise, meaning it was cut the longer way, same as I would cut open a mango or avocado.
While the squash was in the oven, I julienned the zucchini, cut the other veggies, and fried up the minced pork. In actuality, I took pork sausages (4 hot, 2 honey garlic) and cut the meat out of the skins and fried that up.
The “sauce” was really some milk and flour to thicken it up. Basil, oregano, salt & pepper to taste!
Spaghetti Squash and Zucchini Noodle Pasta
Low carb "pasta" with tons of veggies and a bit of protein for a filling and extremely tasty recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 spaghetti squash
- 3 large zucchini
- olive oil extra virgin
- 1 pkg minced pork or taken from sausages
- 1 regular carrot peeled, diced
- 8 bok choy diced
- 1/4 sweet red pepper diced
- 1 large handful spinach
- 1/2 tomato diced
"Sauce"
- 1 cup milk eyeball comparison to noodles
- flour, can be gluten-free enough to thicken milk
- 1 cup mozarella cheese grated/shredded
Instructions
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Turn oven on to 350F. Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and scoop out all seeds. Add a bit of water to the bottom of the baking dish (I used a glass one) and place the 2 squash halves face down - the rind side up. Leave in oven for 40-45mins or until flesh is soft enough to scoop out.
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Meanwhile, on medium heat, fry the minced pork with a smidgeon of olive oil up until brown then set aside in a bowl. Start to use the julienne peeler (or you can use a spiralizer) on the 3 zucchini. The middle of the zucchini is too soft for the most part so I just peel until it gets too soft to peel the centre.
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Dice up the carrots, bok choy (can replace with another veg if you don't have access to an Asian grocery store), and pepper. Start the carrots in the now empty frying pan with a bit of oil on medium heat and cover with a lid while you chop the other veggies. When the carrots are a bit softer, add the other chopped veggies + spinach. Add the pork back in after about 3-5 mins.
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Depending on when you started with the veggies, this should coincide with the spaghetti squash coming out of the oven. Take a fork and from the outside in, scrape the fork inwards -- this should produce some spaghetti like tendrils from the squash! I know Cookie+Kate has a varied way to cook the squash if you'd like more inspiration.
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Add the zucchini noodles into the pan with the veggies and pork and let it cook for a couple minutes while stirring slightly. Add the milk in here to a desired amount (it does thicken a bit with the flour), add little bits of flour at a time and stir. Keep checking to see what you want the thickness to be.
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Finally, add the spaghetti squash and cheese into the mix, and lightly stir. Take the pan off the heat fairly quickly so the squash does not keep cooking too much. Et voilà!
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