This recipe is a little bit time consuming with the sauce, but it is worth it!! And the spaghetti squash is shockingly easy to make for a first-timer, thank you Hayley for walking me through it. Overall, this recipe is tasty, filling and healthy, which is a win-win for me.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of olive oil {preferably cold pressed, it really makes a difference}

1/2 an onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 cup of celery, chopped

1/2 cup of mushrooms, chopped

Any other veggies you want to add–bell peppers, carrots, as an example.

2 cans of crushed tomatoes

1 can of tomato paste

Margarita spices {I used Epicure Selection’s Marinara spice blend}

1lb of lean ground meat {I used beef, organic, no hormones etc added}

2 tbsp of olive oil

salt and pepper

1 spaghetti squash

Prep:

Pour the 1/4 cup of olive oil, onion and garlic in a large frying pan. Fry them up until the onion is translucent. Then add the veggies and set them to cook.

Once the veggies are set to cook, grab a smaller frying pan and put in the 2 tbsp of olive oil and ground beef. As the beef starts to cook, salt and pepper the beef for some flavour.

Once the veggies start to get soft and the flavours are mixing, pour the 2 cans of crushed tomatoes, tomato paste and marinara seasonings into the mix. Turn the temperature down and let it simmer, while the beef cooks in the second frying pan. Once the beef is brown and cooked through, add it to the tomato sauce. I don’t add the juices, just the beef. Continue to simmer and put the squash into the microwave for ten {10} minutes.

The squash will be done when you can put a fork through the skin easily. Once that happens, cut the squash length-wise {not across!} after giving it 5 minutes to cool. I do this using an oven mitt, as the skin is very hot! Then, I scrapped out the seeds, kind of like a pumpkin. Once the seeds are removed, take the fork and scrape at the squash–the squash should fall out naturally in strings, it’s kind of cool!!

Now all you have to do is serve the squash in a dish, pour some sauce on top and VOILA! Dinner! And it’s delicious!