Mondays are Meatless

One of the things we are trying in the new year is to incorporate lots of new recipes into our weekly and monthly meal plans. One of the areas we are trying to boost up is the amount of vegetables that we eat. While we do eat vegetables with meals, it isn't the main focus of our meals. So for 2012 I plan to change that for at least one meal a week if not more than one meal a week. This past week I made a really great dinner that was all vegetables to I thought I would share it here. I had tried to take a picture of the end result but sadly it did not photograph well at all, so rather than posting one very ugly looking dish I will leave you with one very tasty recipe.


Spagetti squash with spicy tomato sauce

Ingredients:
1 spagetti squash, halve lengthwise and seeded
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 can of diced tomatoes
1/2 cup of fresh basil chopped
1/2 cup of black olives sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 to 1 tsp. hot pepper flakes

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.

2. Place spaghetti squash cut sides down on the prepared baking sheet, and bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a sharp knife can be inserted with only a little resistance. Remove squash from oven, and set aside to cool enough to be easily handled.

3. While this is baking in the oven, combine the remaining ingredients to make a spicy tomato sauce to put over your spagetti squash. let it simmer together on the stove in a sauce pan until the squash is done in the oven.

4. Once your squash is out of the oven and able to be handled, scrape out the squash meat (it will resemble spagetti strands as it comes out). Using a fork is best for this task.

5. Spoon spicy sauce over and serve with a tossed salad on the side.

We are trying to not add cheese or bread to our vegetable meals this year, but this would certainly be yummo if you sprinkled some parmesan cheese over it while it's hot, as well as serve with a nice crusty bread and some softened butter.

But even without these additions we found this to be a very satisfying, healthy, low calorie meal. I almost didn't miss having the pasta or meat. I won't say that I didn't completely miss those things as I do love pasta and a good hearty bolognese sauce however this truly was satisfying.

So perhaps in 2012 you will challenge yourself to eat one vegetable meal a week as well. it's a great way to add some healthy stuff back into your meals as well as shed some calories throughout the month in your meals.

enjoy!