One of Bella's & Jamie's favorite week night dinner is Spaghetti Bolognese and because it is such a quick & easy recipe, I make this dish as often as every other week. However, trying to stay on a low carb diet with a pasta meal makes it rather difficult to adhere to it. And we were starting to get tired of zucchini noodles or "Zoodles". So, I decided to try spaghetti squash instead.

I roasted the spaghetti squash and paired it with my usual bolognese sauce. It was delicious! The stringy squash resembled regular spaghetti and has a slight sweet flavor to it. Both Bella and Jamie loved it and have since requested that I make the squash as a pasta alternative for them too. 

Spaghetti Squash Bolognese
by Miss Crumbs A Lot

Recipe
Ingredients
1 Medium Spaghetti Squash
1 lb Minced Beef (20% fat, 80% lean)
3 Carrots
3 stalks of Celery
1/2 Large Onion
5 cloves Garlic
1 28 oz Can Tomato Sauce
1/4 cup White Wine or White Wine Vinegar
Salt & Pepper
3 tbsp Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese

Cooking Method
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cut the spaghetti squash into half, remove the seeds and rub 1 tbsp of olive oil and a little salt on the inside.
3. Place the squash cut side down onto a baking tray, add a little water in the tray and bake for 40 to 60 minutes (depending on the size of the squash and if you prefer it more al dente or softer).
4. In a food processor, mince the carrots, celery, onion and garlic (separately)
5. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a pot and stir fry the minced onion and garlic until fragrant.
6. Add minced carrots and celery and continue stir frying for a few minutes, until the vegetables are soft.
7. Add white wine into the vegetables and mix well.
8. Add the minced beef and stir fry until meat is cooked, breaking up the minced meat.
9. Season with salt and pepper. Allow it to simmer for 20 min.
10. When the squash is done and cooled slightly, use a fork to fluff the squash to make the insides resemble spaghetti. Serve with bolognese sauce and parmesan cheese, if desired.

Makes 4 servings

If there is one dish that I'd prepare for my family a lot, and I'm thinking almost on a weekly basis, it is oven roasted chicken. This is by far one of the easiest meals to prepare and clean up. It is literally a "shake and bake" situation here. Hence, they make a frequent appearance on our dinner table.

In my pantry, I do have a pretty decent spice rack that is filled with a variety of dry rub ingredients. Every other week or so, I'll try different combinations of spice powders on my chicken dinners. Needless to say, the family absolutely love it and very often request for this dish. Do not be disheartened by the long list of ingredients listed below. These spice powders are inexpensive and last for quite a while. On top of that, the flavors that they add to the meat is heavenly.

As I mentioned before, I make oven roasted chicken on a regular basis and so I have developed quite a few dry rub recipes in my arsenal, many of which have less than 5 ingredients required. And I promise I will share them soon. But for now, give this unbelievably flavorful and crispy chicken a try. I even have it such that you can prepare the dry rub once and store it in an air tight container, ready for multiple use.