Comfort food – T.W.O.

Spaghetti squash is one of T.W.O.’s favorite vegetables to eat during fall and winter. It makes for a great side dish, entrée, or even a snack! Spaghetti squash is full of nutrients such as folic acid, potassium, and vitamin A. It is also gluten free! So T.W.O. decided to give your typical “spaghetti dinner” a spin and create a delicious, healthy dish for dinner!

Ingredients

-Spaghetti squash
-½ sweet white onion
-2 garlic cloves
-Mushrooms
-Broccoli florets
-Pasta sauce
-Fresh buffalo mozzarella or Parmesan cheese
-Salt & Pepper

Preheat oven to 350°. Using a sharp knife cut the spaghetti squash in half and remove all the seeds. Place squash on a foil-lined cookie sheet and put in oven. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until the “meat” of the squash is soft.

Meanwhile, chop up garlic, onion, and mushrooms and broccoli. Once the squash is done, take it out of the oven to cool slightly. (Keep oven on) While the squash is cooling, sauté the garlic, onion and mushrooms in olive oil. Microwave the broccoli florets in a bowl filled with ¼ inch of water for about 2 minutes.

Using a fork, scrap out the squash and put into a large bowl. Squash should come out like “spaghetti.” Once all the squash is out of the “shells” place the “shells” aside. These will be used as bowls for the dish.

Add the sautéed garlic, onions, and mushrooms to the squash and mix. Season with salt and pepper. Next, add in the broccoli and pasta sauce and mix.

Place the spaghetti squash back into the “shells”, top with fresh mozzarella and put back into the oven. (Parmesan cheese can also be used.) Bake for about 10 minutes. Before taking the squash out, turn the oven to broil. Broil for about 1-2 minutes or until cheese is slightly brown. Now it’s time to eat!!

Enjoy!

Fall is one of T.W.O.’s favorite seasons because of the weather and the harvest foods! To kick off the season, T.W.O. decided to make a dish with butternut squash. The weather has been quite warm, so a fresh salad with all the Fall ingredients was put on the T.W.O. menu.

Ingredients

Roasted Butternut Squash:

-Butternut Squash
-Olive Oil
-Cinnamon
-Nutmeg
-Salt and Pepper

For the Salad:

-Roasted butternut squash
-Spinach
-Apple (Honeycrisp or Granny Smith)
– Cucumber
-Crimini mushrooms
-Dried Cranberries
-Pepitas
-Goat Cheese

For the Dressing:

-1/4 cup olive oil
-3/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
-2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
-1 ½ Tablespoons Greek yogurt
-I tablespoon honey
-Cinnamon
-Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 415°. Cut butternut squash in half and remove seeds. Place butternut squash on a foil-lined cookie sheet and brush the squash with olive oil. Next, season the squash with salt, pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Put the squash into oven and roast for 45 minutes to one hour.

For the dressing, mix together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, yogurt, honey, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Put the dressing in the refrigerator to chill. Ten minutes before the butternut squash is ready, prepare salad. Dice apple, mushrooms, and cucumber and place on platted spinach. Next, add your cranberries, pepitas and crumbled goat cheese.

When the squash is done, take out of oven and let sit for 3-5 minutes to cool. Cut the squash into cubes (removing the skin) and put on salad. Drizzle the dressing over salad and mix. Now it’s time to enjoy this gastronomical, fall inspired salad!