mexican spaghetti squash pie

i've made the spaghetti squash pizza pie many times, here. and, here.

i wanted something similar, but with some spice.

so i thought about it for a while, and threw some ingredients together.

i'm in love with this tomato sauce, and hatch chiles are the way to go.

heat oven to 400.
puncture a medium/large sized (mine was 4.14 lbs) spaghetti squash several times, bake whole for one hour.
remove from oven, cut lengthwise, let cool, remove seeds and toss, scrape out squash strands for use.
place strands in large mixing bowl.

cook one pound (or a tad more) of ground beef, a small diced yellow onion, salt and pepper.
drain any liquid, add mexican tomato sauce, green chiles, and a can of drained diced tomatoes.
add this mixture to squash in mixing bowl.

add in a handful of mixed mexican cheese, and 3 whisked eggs, to mixing bowl.
 stir everything very well, add to greased 9x13 glass baking dish.
top with a little more cheese.
bake at 350 for an hour, uncovered, until firm and crust starts to form.

it's delicious, and probably even better left over.
i kind of like this more than the italian version, although they are both amazing.
we will eat on this for 2 or 3 days, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

enjoy.

{original recipe credit goes to paleomg, here}.

love,
nicolle

spaghetti squash pizza pie

i made this a few weeks ago and wrote a little bit about it, 

but i made it again this morning, made just a couple of changes, 

and wanted to post it again. it's so good, i can't stop eating it. 

there are a few steps involved, and a lot of dirty dishes, but worth every second.

i've been eating like crap all week/stress eating, and i figured i needed to get a hold of myself.

recipe can be found, here. 

i've always cooked my spaghetti squash for one hour in the oven at 400 degrees, whole, but poke a few holes with a knife. then let it cool a bit, cut lengthwise, remove seeds and middle and toss, then scrape out strands for use.
{do this. cook it first. don't kill yourself trying to cut a raw spaghetti squash to cook}.

this time i just seasoned up some ground beef with lots of dried italian seasoning.

i also use a bit more sauce than it calls for.

i like to mix everything in a large mixing bowl before i put it in the greased baking dish, 

i think the egg gets combined better this way. 

i topped mine with just a little parmesan cheese this time, before baking, mozzarella last time. i think the yellow color comes from the eggs and squash, and it looks really cheesy in this picture, but it's not. 

you can add different veggies, pepperoni, anything really, just as long as you follow the basics.

because it's a lot of work, i'll make a double batch next time.

enjoy.

love,

nicolle

it's been a week, that's for sure

tball.

boyd and his team have won their second game, 

and lost a couple more.

we love boyd's friend joseph.

his daddy passed away while his mom was pregnant with him.

life is hard, and unfair.

joseph loves kevin. it warms my heart and breaks it at the same time to see joseph interact with kevin. 

he has a precious mama, but i do wish we could scoop him up and take him home with us.

although, these two are trouble together, so i might rethink that if we actually did it.

my aunt has been in town, from arizona.

she spent 4 days with us, and i miss her already.

we had some good grub, had a lot of laughs, and tried to pack in as much as we could,

before i turned her over to my mom and grandma.

she heads home tomorrow and i'm already thinking of a way to get back to arizona to see her.

 we were there last summer, and it was one of my favorite vacations ever.

i made this recipe, here. spaghetti squash pizza pie.

i will make this again and again.

i followed the recipe exactly, except that i added a little bit of mozzarella on top.

it was fabulous.

and then our dear family friend fell ill, and was hospitalized and needed surgery, and that is all i could think about. i knew that i needed to be on my knees, in church, praying. so that is what i did. and it's been a week full of hospital visits, but i wouldn't have it any other way. i am extra thankful right now that i have had the time to be with him, and his wife. god has been speaking to my heart extra hard this week. i am in awe of the peace that passes understanding. and i'm thankful for friends who are like family, and it's just a bonus to me, because i am blessed to know them through kevin. 

we have some beautiful people in our life.

thank you jesus.

 and on a much lighter note, this sweet boy. 

he had a school program tonight, and they were asked to come dressed as a nursery rhyme character. 

he went as little boy blue. 

is this a stretch, yes.

does it bother me, no.

you do what you've got to do.

and it's all good.

kevin got stuck in traffic and barely made it as the audience was clapping and the kids were finished, but you know what, boyd will just remember that his dad was there, and that makes my heart sing.

boyd patrick, you are a lucky little boy.

it's been a crazy week, but life is crazy.

i hope you are well.

love,

nicolle

wednesday {baked spaghetti squash}

Kevin sent me this recipe the other day, here. 

Baked spaghetti squash and cheese, plus spinach. 

I've cooked with spaghetti squash before, and we love it, but cooking with it is a labor of love in my opinion.

I've never used it quite like this though, so I was happy to try it out.

As usual, I made a cup of coffee, and got started. 

I cook my squash a little differently than the recipe states. I just puncture each one a few times, and bake whole, for an hour, at 400 degrees. 

{make sure you remove that paper sticker}.

Then I cut them in half lengthwise, remove seeds and dispose {you will lose a few strands of the squash but that's ok, just scoop out that very center with all the seeds}, then scrape out the strands of squash, all the way to the outer shell.
One large squash was plenty for this recipe, {about 4 lbs}, so I cleaned up the other one, and will make a meat sauce later in the week, and we'll have spaghetti.

You get these beautiful strands from the squash.
A great substitute for pasta.

I mixed everything up, and this is what it looked like before I put it in the oven.

The finished product.

I was going for low carb as opposed to lower in calories, so I did use regular cheese and whole milk in mine.
also, i used the corn starch option, as opposed to flour,
and a bit less spinach.
We ate it with ham steak.
It was perfect. It tasted better than I had even imagined.
We loved it.
Definitely a recipe I will be making again.

 A few more things that made me happy today.....

Ezekiel bread plus cream cheese plus pepper jelly. {thank you Cindy and Dave for the yummy jelly}.
I was having a small pity party {party of one} at McD and posted something on Instagram, and my sweet friend/blog friend Holly said she was right next door at another restaurant, and so Boyd and I swung over there to visit. It was just what I needed today. I also got to meet her baby boy, and one of her friends. Made my day. God works in mysterious, but beautiful ways.

best soy sauce ever.
{i know that's random, but i will never buy full sodium soy sauce again}.
sign in our kitchen.

new artwork.

 this sweet boy, and bedtime.

 hope your day has been a good day.

love,
nicolle