Crushed

A few weeks back, The Maiden Metallurgist wrote a post on crushes. (By the way, are you reading The Maiden Metallurgist? You should be. She is funky and cool and has this great life that you cannot even bring yourself to envy because she seems to really deserve it. It is impossible to hate her awesome apartment and adorable husband and divine fashion sense. I read her blog and know that who she is stays quite true to what she writes; nothing is fake or embellished. It is a lovely little corner over there.)

Anyway, so crushes. I thought a lot about that post, how I crush on things. I obsess over the perfect accessory (lately, it is feather earrings) or a newly discovered TV show (Big Bang Theory at the moment). Inglorious Basterds, and of course Eli Roth, occupies lots of brain space and Adele’s voice had me enraptured for a good month. There are always food crushes; short ribs being the most enduring, but lately spaghetti squash has caught my fancy.

Oh, spaghetti squash. How I have found myself enraptured by you. You are easy and affordable and most importantly, taste great. This baked spaghetti squash is so delicious that my roommate and I binged on, and dreamed of, this for three weeks straight. It is healthy and actually tastes good. While I am normally not a huge fan of fat free ricotta, here is is just used for creaminess, so it works. It is flexible–I can see mushroom or eggplant working in here as well–and reheats well.

It is perfectly crushworthy.

Spaghetti Squash Bake

3 turkey or chicken sausages, cut from casing

1 TBSP olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 smallish onion (or a few shallots), minced

1 tsp dry basil

1 tsp dry oregano

Red pepper flakes to taste

Salt and pepper

1 orange pepper, diced

1 medium sized zucchini, chopped

1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes

1 spaghetti squash, cooked

3/4 cup fat free ricotta cheese

1 1/4 cup reduced fat mozerella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degress. Spray (or butter) a lasagna pan, deep casserole, or 6 ramekins and set aside. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large soup pot and add sausage, breaking it apart as it cooks. Cook for about four minutes and then add onion and garlic. Cook an additional three minutes and add basil, oregano, salt, pepper and pepper flakes. Cook for a minute and add pepper and zuchini. Sautee all the veggies with the sausage for about three minutes and then add tomatoes. Cook for about two minutes and removed from heat. Stire in ricotta and squash. Pour in to lasagna pan. Top with mozerella cheese and bake for about 25-30 minutes, until brown and bubbly.

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