Baked Spaghetti Squash with Turkey

As the new year rolls in Brian and I have adopted the healthy eating lifestyle with warm hearts and embracing bellies to the subtle changes we began to make last fall. A couple of the changes we have made are cutting out unhealthy fats, incorporating more vegetables and fruits into our meals, eating less sugars, eating less red meats and more meats like turkey, fish, and chicken, and completely eliminating processed foods, YEAH!

The first couple of days have been hard for me because suddenly I'm not having toast with my egg in the morning and no jalapeno chips with my tuna sandwich and no diet soda with my lunch. The sudden elimination of a lot of carbs---empty carbs at that that my body was used to receiving did make me feel groggy, get headache, and a little irritable (just because I wasn't eating those chips, man!). But after the first week it got better. :) And I feel great (hear me roar).

I really enjoyed this recipe not just because it is healthy and tasty but because I tried something new: Spaghetti Squash! Whoa, if you haven't tried it and you want to challenge whether or not it actually looks like spaghetti you have to try it! It is delish and nutritious, it can substitute pasta any day for me. :)

Like did you know that spaghetti squash only has 27 calories, 7 grams of carbohydrates, low on fat, and low on salt. Compared to pasta that well, we all know is quite carb-y. Make it your goal to try it sometime this week. In other news there will be a weekly post on one of my favorite topics. I can't tell you yet but stay tuned!

Baked Spaghetti Squash with Turkey

Ingredients

• 1 medium sized spaghetti squash
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 3 tablespoons Sriracha sauce (more if you'd like once it's served)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F.  Pour olive oil onto a large baking pan. Slice spaghetti squash in half lengthwise, be sure to use a really sharp knife to do this because the shell is kinda hard. Once it's in half scoop everything out and onto the baking pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, and make sure the squash strands have the consistency of spaghetti. :)

Now in a large pan or skillet heat the olive oil at medium heat and add the onions and garlic gently stir, lower the heat once the smell of garlic becomes strong (usually 2 minutes) add the fish sauce. Gently add the ground turkey and stir until ingredients are well combined. Let it cook for about 5 minutes or until the turkey is cooked. Lastly add the Sriracha sauce and combine with ingredients. Once the turkey is cooked you should add the spaghetti squash.

One of my favorite foods is steamed veggies or sauteed veggies, any combination of sauce to vegetable is guaranteed to be one of my favorites!

Sauteed Cauliflower

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 4 tablespoons light soy sauce (the low on sodium one)

Directions

Cut each cauliflower 'tree' (lol) from the stem and wash then set aside. In a large pan pour olive oil and let it warm at low heat. Add cauliflower and cover the pan for 2 minutes. Then uncover pan, increase heat (medium is okay) and add the soy sauce. Let the pan warm up and swish the cauliflower until it is covered in soy sauce, keep swishing or stirring for 2-3 minutes then turn off heat and serve warm.

This recipe was adapted from White On Rice Couple

Bake and cook with love :)