Buffalo Spaghetti Squash Casserole

 Buffalo Spaghetti Squash Casserole.

Video Credit 

Ingredients 
* 2 cups pre-cooked chicken breast, shredded
* 1 large (or 2 small) spaghetti squash, baked in “rings”
* 2 tbsp olive oil
* 1 large egg
* 1/2 cup (or more) buffalo sauce
* Optional: add some ranch seasoning from Epicure
* Sea Salt (to taste)
* 1/2 cup celery/chopped/sliced
* Green onion (for sprinkling)

Instructions
SPAGHETTI SQUASH:
* Preheat oven to 400°F. Slice ends off the squash, then cut into rings.
* Use a spoon to scrape out the seeds.
* Place squash on lined baking sheet. Use hands to coat each ring w/ a little olive oil/salt/pepper.
* Bake for 30-40 minutes, flipping rings about half way. I love doing these in my Air Fryer helps with some caramelization of the squash - nom nom!  
* Allow to cool for about 15 minutes, then peel the skin away and separate the strands into long spaghetti noodles using a fork.

CHICKEN:
* While spaghetti squash is cooking, make shredded chicken. Pan fry on stove, cook in instant pot, or buy rotisserie chicken - once cooked shred/pull apart with forks or hand mixer.

CASSEROLE:
* In a medium bowl, mix together olive oil, egg, buffalo sauce of choice until well incorporated.
* In a large bowl, add cooked spaghetti squash, shredded chicken + buffalo sauce mixture until well combined. Stir in celery or any other add-ins.
* Pour contents in a greased 8×8 glass baking dish. Bake at 400 for ~25 minutes or until starting to lightly brown on the edges. You can broil at the end to get crispy if you want!

This is also tasty with some extra old Balderson cheese shredded on top. 

Bon Appetite

Margaret 

Live, Laugh, Love 

Be Totallyawake4-life

Creamy Lemon Dilly Chicken with Bacon

Did someone say BACON everything is better with bacon ~ including this tasty combination of flavors created in a one dish skillet that can be served either with cream or coconut milk depending on your dairy needs! We use to use the heavy cream but with me attempting to limit dairy tried it last night with the coconut milk and it tasted awesome too!

Creamy Lemon Dilly Chicken with Bacon
Serves 4

What You Need 

• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 4 x 4 oz servings chicken breasts - chopped to bite size
• 4 strips bacon (chopped into small chunks) 
• 1/2 sweet onion ~ finely diced measures 1/2 cup
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 cup of homemade stock
• 1 tablespoon Lemon Dilly Seasoning from Epicure or a pinch of fresh dill weed chopped finely
• 5 thin lemon slices
• 1/4 cup heavy cream or for a dairy free version use Coconut Milk or other alternative.
• 1 cup of flash frozen peas

What You Do

• Melt coconut oil in the skillet. Saute onions, bacon, garlic and pepper in the oil for a couple minutes to let it absorb their flavors and the bacon to crisp up.
• Add chicken to the skillet and cook chicken a couple minutes on each side to sear the edges and flavor from the oils in. 
• Once the chicken is seared add your stock, lemon dilly spices, and sliced lemon over the top of the chicken and cover and let simmer as the stock reduces 'down' and gets thicker. About 8-10 minutes over medium heat ~ check to make sure chicken is heated to 165 F with a meat thermometer or no pink is visible in the middle of chicken.
• Remove lemon slices and disgard and either move chicken/bacon to the very 'edges' of your skillet for a minute so that the stock in the middle or if you do not mind a second dirty dish temporarily remove from chicken from the pan and slowly stir in the cream into the thickened stock to form your cream base. Bring sauce to a boil and than reduce heat and return chicken along with peas to your skillet.
• Cover and let simmer for another 5-10 minutes to cook the peas in the cream sauce and ensure that the meat has reached the proper internal temperature. 

 Nutritional Breakdown

If you are doing the #21DayFix you would count 1/4 of this recipe as is ~  1.25 red for chicken and bacon, 1/2 a yellow for the peas, 1/4 green for the onion, 1 tsp for the coconut oil and if you use the coconut milk option than 1 blue. 

The following is the nutritional facts of just the above using heavy cream or coconut milk options does not really change the calories but the coconut milk option appears to change the 'high in cholesterol' warning to 'high in saturate fat'  ~ depending on what you serve it 'over' will change the totals below.

We had it served tossed with spaghetti squash for a grain free version as well as so that it used a 'green container' for myself ... it would taste lovely over a pasta or rice of your choice if you can par take in those options . 

Have an amazing day!

Margaret
Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much
Totallyawake4-life

Paleo Inspired Pad Thai

We were in the mood for some Pad Thai ~ so playing with our old favorite and how to make it Paleo Inspired this week ... I have to say the stepson had two helpings so that was a sign that it turned out tasty. Myself I had to add some extra 'hot chilies' to mine at the table mostly because I am fighting a cold this week and think my taste buds were just shrouded by that so I needed the extra heat to clear my sinuses so I could actually taste the creamy delight that this actually was!

 Pad Thai Pork in the Crockpot

 Serves 6

What You Need

• 1 lb. boneless pork loin
• 1/2 green bell pepper, cut into strips
• 1/2 red bell pepper, cut into strips
• 1/2 cup prepared grain free Teriyaki sauce
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes - more of less to taste depending on how spicy you like
• 2 cloves garlic - minced
• 4 tablespoon nut butter (peanut, almonds, cashew)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup chopped green onion

What You Do

• Place pork, Teriyaki sauce garlic, and red pepper flakes in crockpot.
• Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
• Stir nut butter into the liquid until evenly distributed.
• Shred meat with two forks right in the sauce of the crockpot.
• Add sliced peppers, and return meat to crockpot.
• Cook approximately 30 minutes until peppers are slightly cooked, but still crisp.
• Just before serving, stir in green onion and cilantro.
• Can be served over spaghetti squash pad thai below, or with rice, in lettuce wraps, or on top of salad.

 Nutritional Breakdown 

So if you are fixing it would be 1 red for pork, 1/2 green for peppers/onions and 1 tsp for peanut butter ... for those who like the calories and other tidbits this is the breakdown from over at Calorie Count

Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai 

serves 4

 What You Need

• 4  cups of Cooked Spaghetti Squash
• 1/2 cup Shredded Carrots
• 1/4 cup Green Onions
• 2 Garlic Cloves ~ minsed
• 1 tablespoon Minced Ginger
• 1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil
• 1 Egg
• 1/4 cup  Bean sprouts
• 2 tablespoons of prepared grain free Teriyaki Sauce
• 1 tablespoon of nut butter
•  Cilantro and Almonds or Peanuts (optional for garnish)

What You Do

• Melt coconut oil in a pan and saute onions, garlic, ginger and carrots for about 2 minutes.
• Add egg scramble until cooked through. Then remove the mixture from the pan and set aside.
• Mix together teriyaki sauce and peanut butter ingredients in a small bowl.
• Warm spaghetti squash in the pan over low heat and stir in the peanut sauce. Then add in the onion/carrot mixture and bean sprouts.
• Serve your “noodles” on a plate with pulled pork from above over top or as a 'solo lunch dish' or omit the egg add tofu to it to make it 'vegan'.
•  Top with cilantro and nuts.

 Nutritional Breakdown  

So if you are fixing it would be 2 green for squash, carrots, onions and 2 tsp for peanut butter and coconut oil and 1/2 blue if you top with the nuts I personally would not count the egg cause its such a small amount mixed in ... for those who like the calories and other tidbits this is the breakdown from over at Calorie Count

Over all this was six thumbs up around the dinner table last night ~ I found mine so filling I did not even finish so have leftovers to have with my lunch today!

Have an amazing day!

Margaret

Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much!

Totallyawake4-life

 

Grain Free Chipolte Mac-n-Cheese

Spaghetti Squash is another versatile veggie that I had no clue how AWESOME it could be as an alternative to 'pasta' in most recipes! 

Cooking Spaghetti Squash Tips

Baked Spaghetti Squash Rings

 When I first was introduced to spaghetti squash I had no clue how to cut it open the rind seemed so tough so I was poking it with a fork and 'microwaving' it for 10-12 minutes and than cutting it in half was much easier but removing the seeds was tricky cause it was now HOT and forking to make it into strands of spaghetti like substance trickier to get all the strands off without burning fingers so after more than one burnt figure and several occasions of the thing EXPLODING in my microwave cause I had not poked enough holes in it and the pressure built up I decided to research if there was a better way!

So now BAKED is by far my favorite way to prepare it takes a little more time but the results are worth it. You need to invest in a large sharp butcher knife so you can slice your squash into 2-3 inch wide rings without breaking your back! . Remove all the seeds ~ much easier when the thing is raw and cold to scrap them out. Place squash rings on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper ~ add some ground black pepper if desired or other spices like garlic or cayenne and bake on 400 F for 30 minutes .... use a fork to gently pull away the strands of squash. This method results in a much more spaghetti like texture and nice LONG strands of it and I find it is not as 'watery' as the microwave method!

Use spaghetti squash in place of all your pasta needs as a nice low carb and high fiber alternative ... below I will share a quick and easy 'mac -n- cheese' with a little kick!

Grain Free Chipolte Mac-n-Cheese

Serves 2 as a 'side' or 1 as a meal


What You Need

• Small spaghetti squash
• 2 tsp coconut oil
• 1 small sweet onion - finely diced
• 2 gloves garlic - minced
• 1 cup of Riccotta cheese
• 1 tablespoon Epicure Chipolte spice blend 
• 1-2 slices bacon crumbled
• 5 cherry tomatoes - chopped fine
• 2 green onions - chopped fine
• Fresh ground pepper
• Milk/Cream optional
  

Grain Free Chipolte Mac-n-Cheese

What You Do

• Bake your spaghetti squash and 'shred' into long strands and set aside
• In a skillet melt the coconut oil over medium heat.
• Saute the sweet onions and garlic and fresh ground pepper until onions are translucent. 
• Add the spaghetti squash and toss to mix together
• In a small bowl mix the Riccotta cheese and the Chipolte seasoning and crumbled bacon and than add to the skillet ~ tossing as the cheese mixture melts. Add some milk/cream if it seems too thick for your preference. I like thick sauce so just do the Ricotta as is.
•  Add in the tomato and green onion toss and serve as a side with your favorite comfort food like BBQ chicken or baked ham or eat on its own as a meal.

 Have an amazing day!

Margaret
Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much
Totallyawake4-life