Garlicky Egglant Maranara

I saw this recipe on Rachel Rays daytime talk show and with few tweaks it was squeaky clean and tasty.

1 head garlic
2 red bell peppers
1 eggplant
1 28oz can fire roasted tomatoes
1 large spaghetti squash

Take the garlic and cut off the top just far enough down to be able to see the tops of the cloves. Wrap it in tin foil and place on a cookie sheet. To the same cookie sheet add the peppers and the eggplant cut in half with the cut side up. Season the eggplant with salt and pepper. On a separate cookie sheet cut the squash in half and put cut side down add about 2 cups of water to the pan. Put both pans in a 450 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

At this point if the pepper doesn't have nice black charred spots put it over the flame on your stove turning frequently. Cut off the stem and scrape out the seeds.

The eggplant will look like this when its done. Spoon out the insides of the eggplant leaving the purple skin.

I used my handy dandy food processor, but you could use a good blender to puree all the ingredients together (excluding the squash!). Take the garlic out of the foil and squeeze the root side, the cloves will have liquefied and turned into a paste. Add the garlic, fire roasted tomatoes, eggplant insides, and the bell peppers and blend until it is smooth. Scrape the squash into spaghetti like strands. I cooked some ground beef and put it right on top of the squash and sauce.

Meal on a Budget 3rd Edition

If you were at the Halloween Party this is the dish I brought to share with one modification I substituted Kelp Noodles for the spaghetti squash. Either way its a great dinner! As with the other "budget" meals I've featured this will feed a family of four for under $10.00 I'll break that part down further in the recipe. I did my shopping at Super 1 Foods

Spaghetti Squash with Sausage and Greens

1 Large spaghetti squash ($3.56)
1 LB Sausage ($.99)
1 Bunch spinach ($1.68)
1 tsp Crushed red pepper ($.20)
6-8 Mini peppers or 1 Large bell pepper ($1.25)
1 Onion ($.40)
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning ($.10)
1 C. Chicken stock ($.25)

I get these pepper's from Costco they are $3.99 for 2 LB's. They are crisp and flavorful and I love love LOVE them!
Cook the sausage and drain. In the same pan cut up all your veggies excluding the spinach and put them with the chicken stock and cook them with the spices until they are soft.


Add back in the sausage and let it cook together for a few minutes to let all the flavors mix. Put the spinach over the veggies and meat and stir together to wilt this will only take a few minutes.


In the meantime, halve the squash place in a microwaveable dish add 1/2 cup water and heat for 10-15 minutes on high. Repeat with the remaining squash half. Discard the seeds. Using a fork, comb the squash into strands into a bowl.

Spoon the sausage and veggies over the squash and serve.

Sun dried Tomato Alfredo with Spaghetti Squash and Shrimpies

I think this is my favorite Paleo meal to date. Scott even had some and said you would never known it was made with coconut milk instead of heavy cream! You could make this over a bed of cauliflower "rice", kelp noodles or spaghetti squash as I did here. I had never had spaghetti squash and it was very very VERY good. I will definitely use it again! I'm looking forward to cooking some fall flavors pretty soon.

There are several ways you can cook a spaghetti squash the method I used seemed to be the easiest and with it being so hot the coolest as well! I cut the squash in half and put if flat side down in a small Pyrex dish with a splash of water and microwaved it covered with saran wrap for 20 minutes. It looked like this:

You can also bake it using the same method minus the saran wrap in a 350 degree oven for an hour. It is done when you can scape the inside and it comes out easily it will look like spaghetti and smell like a fall day!

Alfredo sauce:

1 tsp. Olive oil

4 Cloves garlic

3/4 C Chicken broth

1/2 tsp. Arrowroot (as a thickener)

1 tsp Sea salt

Fresh pepper

1/4 C Sun dried tomatoes chopped

1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

1/2 Can Coconut milk

1 lb Shrimp (de-veined and shelled)

Cook your shrimp in the olive oil and garlic, set aside. In the same pan add the chicken broth and whisk in the arrowroot. Once thickened add the coconut milk, seasoning and tomatoes. Add the shrimp back in and simmer until the sauce has become thick and yummy about 5-8 minutes.
Drum roll please... here is the final product soooo gooood!