RECIPE: Southwest Baked Spaghetti Squash

I'm a huge fan of spaghetti squash, you can have an entire serving for just 35 calories and it's nearly flavorless, so you can use it in a variety of ways and it just takes on the taste of what you mix it with. Check out this recipe I found from The Clean Eating Machine.

Ingredients

• 3 pound spaghetti squash; halved lengthwise and seeded
• 2 cans no sodium black beans; drained and thoroughly rinsed
• 2 bell peppers (I used orange and yellow, but you can use any colors); diced
• 1 jalapeno; seeded and finely chopped
• ½ yellow onion; finely chopped
• ½ cup organic salsa + additional for topping
• 2 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp. cumin + additional to taste
• Pink Himalayan salt to taste
• Chopped fresh cilantro for topping (optional)
• Dairy free cheese shreds for topping (optional); I used Daiya pepperjack shreds

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Cut your spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds.
3. Place prepared spaghetti squash center side down on a foil lined baking sheet that is lightly coated with a non-stick cooking spray, and place on the middle rack of oven to bake for about 20 minutes. When squash is ready, the skin will lightly give to the pressure of your finger.
4. Remove finished squash from oven and carefully flip squash over so it is center side up. Allow squash to cool.
5. While squash is cooling down, coat a pan generously with non-stick spray and saute your peppers, jalapeno and onion until onion is translucent.
6. Add in your garlic and black beans and stir to thoroughly mix. Season with cumin and salt to taste, then stir in ½ cup of organic salsa and remove from heat.
7. Doing only one half at a time, take a fork and scrape the stringy pulp from the squash into a medium bowl, being careful to keep the skin intact so you can use it as a bowl. Toss your ‘noodles’ with half the black bean mixture and add additional seasoning if needed.
8. Place empty skin back onto your greased baking sheet, and pour mixture back into it. Repeat process for the other half of the squash then top each half with your dairy-free cheese of choice.
9. Switch your oven from bake to broil, and broil squash on high until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and top with chopped cilantro and additional salsa if desired before serving.