Friday, January 19, 2018

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Day 18 of my Squeaky Clean January - back to total Paleo PLUS zero sugars or artificial sweeteners.  It's a big change from the total diet abandon of December!  I felt like crap, but it was kind of fun.  If someone baked it and frosted it - I ate it!

But now, 18 days in - I feel fantastic.  I am back to my fighting weight (sorry dreamers - never a super model - just a healthy, I-can-do-anything weight!)  Day 18 is a day when it pays to be a glass-half-full girl.  I truly am focused on all the things I can have.  All the things I am back to eating and enjoying and how good I feel mentally and physically.

However, I  am not alone in my clean eating. I have clients who are experiencing their first total clean eat.  I have a teenager, a college student, a husband and probably a few Facebook friends who are along for the ride and I don't even know about it.

So, my goal is to keep it interesting.  Tasty.  NOT sacrificial.  Yummy!

I browse around a lot of Whole30 and Paleo bloggers, Instagrammers and Podcasters.  I watch, read, save, pin...you know!  And I faithfully watch the Today show every morning.  Since birth, I think!  And the other day (for those of you who follow my Wildflower Kitchen Facebook Page,  you saw this already!) Katie Lee showed an "easier" way to cook spaghetti squash - which  I love, but hate to cut and roast!  Believe it or not, she was RIGHT! ... well, believe it or not, when I did it like she said to do it - it turned out for ME!

All you have to do is poke several holes with a sharp knife (so much easier/safer than slicing!) in your spaghetti squash (remember to choose the heaviest squash for its size at the market if you want the best results/yield when roasting), place it on a parchment-line baking sheet and roast for 1 hour 15 minutes at 450.  There's a super short video on my Facebook page showing just how easy it is to slice through the squash...I couldn't believe it!

This is brilliant!  I have good knives and strong hands, but I still struggled with slicing through spaghetti squash in the past - so much so, that I didn't make it very often.  This makes me very happy!

Once it's roasted, slice the squash in the middle (you can slice it lengthwise, but it will make the "spaghetti" strands shorter and take away the effect that you are eating pasta...in my opinion!  Scoop out the seeds (be careful - it's really soft at this point and you could end up scooping out some of the delicious squash), then use a fork to strand out the strands of squash.  If I'm not using it all right away,  I like to add a drizzle of avocado oil, a T of ghee, salt and pepper, mix really well and store in an airtight container.  Then I have it when I need a side dish (use it like you would any pasta),  to add to soups or for a casserole like this!  Meal prep rules!
Anyway, in my browsing of clean eating sites - I saw a riff on a tuna "noodle" casserole...which, thankfully, my mother did not make when I was growing up!  Which is why I had no urge to recreate it in Paleo form.  However, I did used to love making chicken and broccoli casseroles when I first started cooking.  They were loaded with cheese (I am getting a tummy ache just typing the word), cream and pasta noodles.  Can't do that no more!  But, with this new, brilliant way of roasting a spaghetti squash...well, the possibilities seemed promising.

So, this morning I got to work!  Now, I will tell you that I made my casserole with leftovers.  Because I always have them.  The recipe I am going to include is for a from-scratch casserole.  But understand that you can throw this baby together in 15 minutes or less (not including bake time) with stuff in your fridge or from the deli.
I kind of cleaned out my fridge this morning to make this Chicken Broccoli Casserole.  I had the aforementioned roasted spaghetti squash, probably 2 roasted and cubed chicken breasts, 4-6 ounces of steamed garlic broccoli, sauteed mushrooms and onions.  I made the sauce with basic paleo pantry items and together - deliciousness that is 100% clean eating.  If you are doing a Whole30 or other squeaky clean plan this month - this is for you.  Completely compliant!  (tonight I think I am going to try and create a version with leftover chicken Italian sausage, a jarred organic sugar free marinara and more of the cream sauce I made for this one...I'll let you know in the comments if it works out!)

I let everything come to room temp before I mixed it...so just pull it out of the fridge, have some coffee, do a load of laundry, walk the dog - whatever - but the coconut cream mixture will be at room temp and I think it's always best to combine things of like temperatures for the best results.  Or, I suppose you could pop everything in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Cube your ingredients into like-size bites, grease your casserole dish with coconut oil, add the squash, protein (in this case, roast chicken), cooked veggies (here I am using  sauteed onions and mushrooms and steamed garlic ghee broccoli) and stir to combine.

Preheat your oven to 350

Now it's time to mix up the 'cream' sauce.  I was winging it - but I know the flavors that I love and I remember the taste from my Chicken Broccoli Casseroles of the past that I was trying to recreate.

This is full-fat coconut cream, dijon mustard, smashed garlic, crushed red pepper flake, salt and pepper, freshly ground nutmeg and a splash of coconut aminos.  Weird combo on paper - delightful on your tongue!!!

Then you just spread it out over the top of the dish...

Bake for 10 minutes...
Stir, bake for another 15-20 minutes...
 And enjoy...


Here is the recipe if you don't have a fridge full of leftovers and want to make this casserole from scratch:

Chicken Broccoli Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Ingredients:

  • 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
  • 1 medium spaghetti squash
  • 3 cups bite-sized broccoli florets
  • 12 ounces sliced mushrooms
  • 1 sweet onion, diced
  • 1 can full-fat coconut cream
  • 1 T dijon mustard
  • pinch red pepper flake
  • 6 cloves smashed garlic
  • 1 1/2 T ghee
  • 1 T coconut aminos
  • pinch fresh grated nutmeg
  • Kosher salt and cracked black pepper
  • avocado or coconut oil
Preheat oven to 375

Place chicken breasts in a 9x13 casserole dish, coat with avocado (or melted coconut) oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper (you can add other spices if you like).  Roast chicken for 40 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken reads 175 degrees.  Remove from oven and cover loosely with foil and set aside to cool.

Turn oven up to 450

Pierce your spaghetti squash approximately 10-12 times with a sharp knife (be careful please), place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  

While squash is baking, place your onions and mushrooms in a non-stick pan and saute on medium/medium low in 1 T avocado oil (sprinkle with salt about half-way through the cooking process).  You will get your best flavor and color if you saute slowly, stirring often, over the lower heat for a longer time - about 20-25 minutes.  Turn the heat up with 5 minutes cook time left to get really good char on your veggies.  Once the veggies are done, turn the heat off and set aside.

Your chicken breast should be cool enough to chop at this point.  Cube the chicken into 1" pieces, place into an air-tight container (don't forget to pour all the delightful cooking juices over the cubes for extra flavor!), place into the fridge for food safety.  You can add the mushrooms and onions to this same container to refrigerate.

Now, steam your broccoli - you can use a steamer, you can boil (please don't!), you can roast in the oven with the squash for approximately 20-30 minutes.  OR, you can do it my favorite way...place the broccoli florets into 1 or 2 of the old-fashioned fold over sandwich bags (not the zipper kind) with 1 t ghee and all the smashed garlic.  Microwave on high for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes until the broccoli is softened, but not mush.  Let it cool a bit before taking it out of the microwave - it gets REALLY hot!  Place the steamed broccoli into a dish with all the garlic and ghee from the bag, salt with Kosher salt and place into the fridge  to cool.

Your squash should be done by now.  Slice it into rings (it is effortless), scoop out the seeds and use a fork to pull the squash "noodles" out of the skin.  Place into a bowl, add 1 T ghee, Kosher salt and pepper and stir to coat.  Set aside.  Turn the oven down to 350.

To make the sauce, add the coconut cream (just the cream, not the coconut water in the bottom of the can), the coconut aminos, dijon mustard, crushed red pepper flake and nutmeg.  Stir until blended.  

Grease a 9 X 13 casserole dish with coconut or avocado oil.  

Combine the squash, chicken, broccoli, mushrooms and onions in the  casserole dish.  Spread the coconut cream sauce evenly over the top of the casserole.  Sprinkle with Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Place casserole in the oven and roast for 10 minutes.  Stir all the ingredients, place back in the oven and roast for an additional 30 minutes.  Enjoy!

Serves 6 








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