spaghetti squash with tomato sauce and sausages

The very very fun Labor Day weekend came to a screeching halt.

Which is to say, rather, that real life came back in a rush. I feel like we went from zero to sixty in a matter of seconds.

Back to school, back to homework, and since I work at a preschool that starts the day after Labor Day, back to work for me.

That also means back to quick and easy weeknight dinners. Quick and easy weeknight dinners that feed the family straight from the Abundant Harvest box, of course. Quick and easy dinners that I forget to photograph, apparently. I got only one (pretty bad) shot of the preparing and eating of this meal, so you are going to have to imagine the rest.

Quick and easy dinners like spaghetti squash.

I don't have a real recipe for it. I just cook it, shred it, and serve it like I would serve regular spaghetti. My kids call it "short spaghetti," and although it has a little bit of crunch to it, the flavor is mild enough that it takes on the taste of the sauce, and really isn't a lot different than eating spaghetti. Since it is all vegetable (without a grain or dairy product in sight) I make sure to add meat of some sort in order to make it a bit more filling and lasting.

Here is how I prepare my spaghetti squash:

Preheat the oven to 400.

Cut the squash in half lengthwise, and scoop out all of the loose pulp and seeds.

Place squash, cut side down, in a pan filled with about an inch of water.

Bake for about half an hour.

When it is browning on the outside, and soft on the inside, it is done. Let it cool a little bit, until you can handle it, and then gently scrape out the squash with a fork. It will come out in little strings, just like spaghetti! You can do lots of things with it, but my favorite is just to serve it the way I serve spaghetti. But oh so much healthier.

I served it with the tomato sauce I canned a few weeks back, and some italian sausages leftover from grilling the night before.  If I don't have sausages on hand, I will add either browned turkey to the sauce, or meatballs. Easy Peasy dinner for a night when mama has to work, kids have karate, and homework is piling up!