Creamy spaghetti squash with miso red pepper sauce

Creamy spaghetti squash with miso red pepper sauce

My New Year's resolution is to use up all of my spaghetti squash from last summer's garden. I have a gigantic pile of them in cold storage in my garage. Current temp outside is zero. I'd say there are no problems with them not holding up. Most of last year's crop lasted all the way through July but alas, a few of them went by the way side.

Here's my plan to make sure all of my precious beauties make it to my dinner table this year. Oh, did I mention I am the only one in my household who goes nuts over spaghetti squash? Spaghetti squash lovers, unite, I say.)

• Bake at least two each week. Scoop out the squash and freeze in muffin tins (1-cup portions) for use in a variety of recipes. Or use one immediately for a recipe. Check out my two newest spaghetti squash creations below or click on the tag, "spaghetti squash," at the bottom of this post for more ideas.
• There is a chance your freezer may get filled up with spaghetti squash. If so, back off on baking two each week.
• Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?

For newbies with spaghetti squash, the hard part is cutting one in half for baking. Do the best you can or get a strong-armed person from the household to do the job. You also can bake them whole but I have never tried this. Maybe that should be on my list above of things to do.

Once the squash are halved, scoop out the seeds. Salt and pepper the squash halves, rub with olive oil and place face down in a large baking pan. Add about 1 cup of water to the pan before placing in a 350-degree oven for about one hour. Allow the squash to cool before you scoop out the insides. Use immediately or place in muffin tins to freeze for future use.


Here's my spaghetti squash recipe round-up for this week.

Creamy Spaghetti Squash with Miso Red Pepper Sauce

Here's what you need: (serves two; or one for now and one for lunch tomorrow)

2 cups spaghetti squash (follow baking instructions above)
1/2 of a medium cauliflower, cut into florets
1 cup snap peas
6 stalks of asparagus, chopped into one-inch pieces
1/2 medium red onion,  sliced

Miso Red Pepper Sauce:
1 red pepper, roasted
1 T. tahini
1T. miso paste
salt and pepper to taste
juice of half a lemon

Here's what you do:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place the cauliflower florets on a sprayed baking sheet. Toss with a bit of olive oil  and sprinkle on salt and pepper. Bake for 20-30+ minutes or until roasted.

Roast the red peppers on a separate baking sheet. Remove when slightly charred on one side. Set aside to cool.

Place the other veggies on another baking sheet and be prepared to add them to the oven about 15 minutes before everything else is done.

In the meantime, prepare the creamy miso red pepper sauce. (This is soooo good!) Put the cooled red peppers in a food processor or magic bullet type device. Add the other ingredients and puree until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

Final prep: put the spaghetti squash in a medium bowl. Toss with 1-2 T. of sauce. In a separate bowl, toss the other veggies with another 1 T.  of sauce.

On a plate, pile on some spaghetti squash and top with veggies.
(Note: you can mix everything together in one bowl if you like but it doesn't come out as visually appealing but it still tastes awesome.)


Spaghetti squash grain-free crackers

Spaghetti-squash grain-free seed crackers:

Here's what you need:

1. 2 T. hemp seeds
2. 1 cup toasted sunflower seeds
3. 1/4 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
4. 1 T. chia seed
5. sea salt to taste
6. 1 T. olive oil
7. 1/4 cup water
8. 1 T. coconut flour
9. 1 cup spaghetti squash puree
10. 1 tsp. cumin
11. 1 tsp. dried cilantro

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Spray a large cookie sheet with pan spray.
3. Grind all the seeds to a coarse grind in a coffee grinder.
4. Puree spaghetti squash in a food processor.
5. Add the ground seeds and other ingredients to the food processor, containing the squash.
6. Pulse to mix to somewhat wet dough.
7. Spread the dough with wet hands to keep dough from sticking on the cookie sheet.
8. The dough should be about 1/4-inch thick and in the shape of a large rectangle about 10 X 15 inches.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and use a pizza cutter to cut cracker shapes.
11. Spread the crackers and return to oven.
12. Continue baking the crackers until they are hard and crisp. Turn the crackers over and turn the pan from time to time to facilitate crisping.

Recipes contributed to: http://www.dietdessertndogs.com/2013/01/03/wellness-weekend-jan-3-7-2013/

We're the shoe patrol but we love spaghetti squash too!