Monday, January 27, 2014

Grub It Up: Greek Spaghetti Squash


This week. Oh, this week. We're sick of hearing ourselves complain about how cold it is, so we'll just let that go without saying, but we (mom) took definite advantage of the snow and cold days last week and suspended basically all dietary restrictions (and good sense). We've now (mostly) righted ourselves, after seeing that it's not going to get warmer any time soon. But, suffice it to say, there was not much cooking and definitely not much paleo cooking going on in our house last week. Here's the pathetic bit we've got that's reportable:

M -- W: exempt holiday/snow/f'ing cold/daddy brought cannolis back from boston days

Th: Paleo Chicken Fingers and Greek Spaghetti Squash -- the chicken fingers are an old favorite, but the spaghetti squash was a new one. Mom and dad seemed to love it. Mom finally got the squash cooking down pat and thought this had great flavors. A keeper. Plus, she doesn't usually love feta cheese, but she found a really yummy sheep's feta cheese at Trader Joes and is now a convert (for those who eat dairy on paleo, check it out).

F: Sauteed Lemon Chicken with Onions and Roasted Grape Goat Cheese Honey Sweet Potatoes -- HOLY HECK. Mom almost posted on both of these, but she was so excited that she finally got the spaghetti squash to work, she insisted on that. We LOVED this chicken (mom subbed honey for the sugar) and mom and dad seemed legitimately sad that mom only had one sweet potato to split between the two of them. Both of these are at the top of our list now.

S: empty the refrigerator omelets -- no recipe, just whatever perishable tidbits went well together.

S: dinner out and not paleo -- it was cold outside. that's all we've got.

Here's to a week full of more clean eating and less weather complaining. When we feel cold, we'll just think of our poor Chicago cousins who have a week full of temperatures far below 0.

Greek Spaghetti Squash
(slightly adapted from Nibbles and Noshes)

Ingredients
- 1 spaghetti squash
- 2 tbls olive oil, divided
- 1-2 tbls of red wine vinegar
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tbls fresh basil, chopped
- 1/2 tbls of oregano
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground pepper
- 1 1/2 lbs tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 an onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup Kalamatta olives, pitted
- 2 tbls fresh parsley, roughly chopped
- feta cheese, to top 

Instructions
Spaghetti Squash
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
- Cut the squash in half lengthwise, from pole to pole. Remove all seeds and stringy bits. 
- Place two squash halves, cut side up, in a rimmed baking tray and add about a cup of water.
- Place squash in the oven and roast until a fork can be inserted easily into the squash's flesh, but it is not mushy. About 45-60 minutes. 
- Carefully remove the roasted squash from the oven and allow it to cool for 5-10 minutes. Then use a fork to scrape out the squash's flesh into stringy "spaghetti."

Vegetables
- While the squash is roasting, combine 1 tbls of olive oil, red wine vinegar, 1 clove of the minced garlic, and salt into a bowl and then add the chopped tomatoes. Stir to coat as thoroughly as possible and allow the mixture to sit for at least 20 minutes. 
- When the spaghetti squash is ready, heat remaining olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. When the oil is hot, add the onion and saute, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to turn translucent. 
- Add the remaining garlic and cook for about 30 additional seconds.
- Drain the tomato mixture and then add it to the skillet. Add the oregano, basil and pepper, and then allow it to cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Toss in the spaghetti squash. You may turn up the heat to brown it slightly, if you'd like, or just reheat it. 
- Move the skillet from the heat and stir in the olives and parsley and then top with feta.

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