Halloween was too fun last night! We had more trick-or-treaters than ever before, and with Sugar, Corduroy and myself all dressed in costume, it was a real hoot over here passing out (and eating) candy! In case you missed it, Sugar went as Hello Kitty, while Corduroy was Yoda. Halfway through the night we had a little costume change though, since they were starting to pull them off! Naughty! Sugar was cool rocking a tutu while Cord, a jingle bell collar. Woof!

 

Mommy went as Alice and Wonderland, since Miranda gave me her costume before she moved to Thailand and it had the most ridiculous wig! But what’s Halloween for, right? Andy got into the spirit by carving this cool pumpkin, without me, I might add, but it’s pretty cool so I forgave him! We’re going to a Halloween party tomorrow night (yes, in November) and it’s a comic/funnies themed party that we will both be dressing up for! You’ll have to check back here Sunday because I’m not giving anything away!

 

After all the candy, I decided I needed to de-sugar (not the dog, the substance) and create recipes instead! I created both of these as a spin-off of the heavy Italian meals Macaroni and Cheese and Lasagna, that I used to eat a lot and love… but that made me fat! So here are two of my favorite dishes using squash as the noodle instead. You’ll love them and won’t miss that heavy, bloated feeling afterwards! 

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Spaghetti Squash “Macaroni” and “Cheese”- serves 4 

Ingredients:

-1 large spaghetti squash

-1 tsp olive oil

-1 cup peas (I used frozen)

-1 cup chopped broccoli

-1 bulb of black garlic

-1/2 cup Smart Cheese (I used the Cheddar/Sharp blend) 

-1/2 cup Blue Diamond Unsweetened Vanilla Coconut Almond Milk

-salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Cut the spaghetti squash in half and de-seed. Save the seeds for the pepita recipe below! Place them cut side down on a baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes or until soft.

 

2. If you’re using frozen peas or broccoli, get them ready and then place them, with the garlic, in a saucepan. Add the olive oil.

3. Sauté the vegetables until they start to brown.

4. When the squash is cool enough to handle, scoop it all out and add it to a large bowl.

 

5. Add the vegetables, cheese and milk into the squash “macaroni” and stir well, adding salt and pepper to taste! Wallah! No noodle macaroni and cheese! Healthy and delicious!

 

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My Ma was telling me how she went to a party last week and brought her famous Butternut Squash Lasagna, and everyone was digging it and asking her for the recipe and such, so I thought I’d make one too… without the use of “real” noodles and “real” cheese! I also made a Butternut and Apple Sauce as an alternative to red sauce. It turned out excellent! It’s healthy, yummy, and cheesy, even without the heavy cream and Mozzarella cheese! You should make it Ma! 

Butternut Squash Lasagna with Butternut Apple Sauce- serves 6-8 

Prep Time: One Hour 

Ingredients:

-1 large butternut squash

-1 small butternut squash

-1 bag spinach 

-1 small eggplant

-1 red onion

-1 green pepper

-1 orange pepper

-1 cup baby carrots

-1 bulb black garlic 

-1 heirloom tomato

-1 cup Blue Diamond Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Coconut Milk

-4 apples

-6-8 slices of Veggie Cheese

-salt and pepper 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400.

2. Take your smaller squash and cut it in half, de-seed it and place it cut-side down on a baking sheet. Peel the apples and de-core them, cutting them in half, and placing them cut-side down on the sheet too. Bake for 20 minutes or until soft. 

3. Chop up all the vegetables. Place them in a sauté pan, adding the tomato last. Cook until everything is brown and smelling good! 

    

 

4. Take the vegetables and place them in your food processor and pulse well. 

5. When the squash is cool enough to handle, scoop it out and place it and the roasted apples into the food processor with the Almond Coconut milk. Pulse well until sauce is thick. 

   

7. To make your “noodles” use a mandolin or finely slice the other butternut squash, with the skin on. Finely slice the eggplant too. 

   

8. Begin to make your lasagna by layering the squash, sauce, eggplants and cheese in your baking dish. You can do it how you want but I did it this way…lightly coat the bottom of the dish with the sauce then add the squash, a layer of spinach, sauce, eggplant, spinach, eggplant/squash, sauce again and finally a thin layer of cheese. I didn’t have any shredded cheese left so this looks a bit funny with my Veggie Cheese slices! 

    

 

   

 

9. Bake in the oven at 375 for one hour of until the lasagna starts bubbling along the sides! Manga! 

  

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Oh! And I saved the seeds from Andy’s pumpkin and the butternut and spaghetti squashes above to create this unique blend of pepitas… did you know pepita is Spanish for “little seed of squash”? Well now ya do! Spread the seeds out on an un-greased cookie sheet and sprinkled salt, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice on top. Bake for 15 minutes or until all the seeds are golden and not wet and sticky anymore! Seeds for days!!!             

 

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Well I’m signing off for this evening and signing myself up for a glass of Chard to enjoy with my Butternut Squash Lasagna… Manga!