Friday, July 18, 2014

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna Casserole...

I made this last Sunday, and posted a pic of the yummy lunch that I took to work on Monday and have been asked for the recipe SO many times!!!!

SOOOO, that being said - I do not typically follow recipes - and I swear that I FOR REAL put Tony Cachere's Creole seasoning in EVERYTHING that I make...haha...

 I had an idea in mind after cooking our first spaghetti squash... I make 'lasagna casserole' on occasion, but with rotini noodles and can/jar sauce... (I've never made a full pot of spaghetti sauce before Sunday!)  Anyway, recipe below... Make it your own!

You will need:
 1 24 oz. container of Ricotta Cheese
4 cups of Mozzarella Cheese
1-ish cups of parmesan (like the powdery kind) I probably used more!
Shredded Parm (if you want it - Jeremy LOVES cheese - so I used 4 oz. I think)
.5-ish tbs of onion powder, garlic powder and Tony Cachere's... (I may have used more Tony's - it can be salty so be careful)
2 tbs oregano
2-3 tbs of minced garlic (Costco minced) - we tanked on garlic production this year!
Handful of fresh basil (rough cut)
5 lb-ish Spaghetti Squash
4 lbs of tomatoes (I have no idea how many lbs I actually used, but my largest pot was full)
1 lb LEAN hamburger meat... (or ground deer / turkey meat if you prefer) You know, it really matters that it is lean... because there's only like 20 lbs of cheese in this concoction... 

First things First: Spaghetti Squash:

I used a BIG one... seriously was not sure if it was ready.... this is our first year to grow it, however - after many internet searches, the coloring is acceptable so I dug in!

 First, I cut the top and bottom off of the spaghetti squash, then cut it straight down the middle:


Scoop out the seeds... (duh) and put them in your compost!!! Heck, really - I don't know if you should... you might be growing compost spaghetti squash in a few weeks...


Here's the tricky part... (not) - add about 1.5 inches of water to a casserole dish.. whatever size will fit both of your squash faces... Place the spaghetti squash face down and cook in the microwave (YES, the MICROWAVE) for 20 minutes... I cook mine longer so that it has a noodle texture... It may have the same texture at 15 mins, but I've been successful thus far - so I'm sticking to it.


SAUCE - I was working on both squash / tomato sauce at the same time... Sooo, that being said - my sauce - not from a jar... Place your rinsed tomatoes in a stock post (or the largest pot you have to yield a decent amount of sauce) and cover with water.. I always add ground sea salt to anything that I boil - so if you wish, do the same...


Rolling boil until you see the skin start to separate from the tomatoes:


Strain and let the tomatoes cool... you will burn the CRAP out of your fingers if you even attempt to peel them hot... (I put mine in the fridge for a while and then suffer through the tomatoes spitting heat at me)...

 Cooled and ready to peel / "spaghetti":


Rake a fork through the squash into a bowl...


Tomatoes are peeled... ADD: fresh basil, minced garlic, and oregano...


If you do not have a Blendtec - I highly recommend purchasing one... It is possible, that I may have shared my opinion on several occasions any time that Costco has a 'Blendtec show'... (yes, I am THAT girl at the store - I DO NOT WORK for Costco nor have ANY affiliation with Blendtec - but love free stuff... hint hint...)

ANYWAY, into the Blendtec it goes... unless I am making a smoothie I only use the pulse function when making sauce or salsa... Hit it until you see whatever consistency you like... (Tony's in the background) :


(Meat of your choice should be cooked at this point - btw)

Tomatoes back into the pot (I use a smaller one at this point), add meat, onion powder, garlic powder, tony's, and 1-ish cup(s) of the powdery parmesan and bring to a rolling boil and then let it simmer until it's a decent consistency...

 Reduced sauce:


IT's "NOODLE" TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I added a little more oregano and seasonings to the squash before adding the cheese(s):


"CHEESED" UP!!! (Ricotta, 1/2 of the mozz, additional parm if you'd like):


I didn't take pics of the layering process... or the finished product... (until it was about to be consumed!) BUT, layer the squash/cheese mixture and sauce... Squash on the bottom and cover with sauce... Top with remaining mozzarella, shredded parm.. and anything else you'd want to consume!

Bake at 375 until the cheese on top is golden brown...

Perfection! Seriously - did NOT miss the noodles... and my finicky kids didn't FLINCH eating it! (they had no idea that there were no noodles!)



(Side Note: this is my FIRST step by step of ANYTHING... I type how I think... so... there is NO grammatical corrections to be had here... I KNOW... like, really... I know...)  And this is really a PITA!

 Much love... H

Friday, January 21, 2011

The BIGGEST BLOG SLACKER....EVER!!!

Now that facebook is out there - I REALLY really have been neglecting my blogs... Seriously.... like seriously... (grey's people!!!)

ANYWAY.... SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much since August has happened within our Moorhead Insanity... not alot of building - but alot of pretty-ing this place up! To be quite honest - we took a MAJOR break after the boys birthday party in August... We built and built and built some more... and just quit for a bit... Jer's shoulder is feeling a little better... and now... 5 months later - my knee is giving out... FUN! haha...tfrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (that is Elly/KiKi's addition to my blog - our new kitty)

Anyway... a few pics to update... The boys room with new carpet and decor:


The staircase - paint still needed!

ALMOST done with the upstairs bath...

New Sink/Cabinet and fixtures:

The boys had a kick butt birthday party... thanks to all the friends and family that joined us!


Haden started KINDERGARTEN! AHHHHH!


Mommy had a harder time with it than Haden did... "Mommy... You are going to miss me..." uh... yes, son... I am.

Haden started soccer... GO PANTHERS!!!



Hannah started 7th grade and the fun of what is Athletics!



I swear - this will never be finished!!! haha... will continue tomorrow! :) or in 3 weeks. :)

Much love to you and yours - H

Friday, August 20, 2010

My...oh... My... Another month gone by!!

Well well well... It's almost the end of August already... Haden and Hannah are about to start school (wow!!! Monday!!!) - We've had a birthday party for the boys this month (and a mini-housewarming the same day), we've had 2 killer volleyball fests at the house, done some cattle herding, school shopping, 4-wheeling and have had 2 meet the teacher events!!! (oh, and we actually got a little sleep this month!!!) AND how could I forget - we finished our floors, had a horrible storm, had to take them out and start over!! DUH!!! THE WEEK of the party!!!

Our focus is off of the house - and back onto our family. 4 months was long enough of GO GO GO - so now we are 'chill - relax - enjoy'... :) We still have many projects to be done, but at a much slower pace!!! :) Our home is liveable now - and so that's exactly what we must do... LIVE!!!! :) A few pics of our adventures in August:

Happy 5th and 3rd Birthdays to our precious boys!!


So many of our wonderful family members and friends spent this very special day with us!


And we played some serious volleyball!

As Holton joins us... (and shows some booty-crack!


Some of the storm damage - trampoline flew into the house, knocked out both posts that support the porch roof (thankfully it didn't collapse) and then proceeded to travel across the creek into one of the trees:



and... the winds blew open our new french doors, and flooded our brand new floors...
New floors 2 days before, fully installed:


and the floors after... green are the ones that were ruined (upside down) - we were able to save half...



Anyway - I'll go for now... I've got many more pics - that of course are on facebook too!! :)

Much Love,

H,J,H,H and H

Monday, July 26, 2010

I must say - I'm quite impressed...

I cannot believe how much we got accomplished this weekend... We seriously couldn't get half of what we get done without Grandma and Papa (and Aunt Brit) down the street to wrangle the boys for us while we work... :) I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE our new floors!!!:)

Anyway - this weekend we got the floors in most of the baseboards and crown molding in the new living room:



Jer really gets the credit for those items, because I was able to escape on Saturday morning for sister Amanda's baby shower... When I returned... this was what I had in store for the next several hours: grout, beer and A LOT of tile....



I love the grout color Jer picked - but I DID NOT like working with Sanded Grout... That crap dries out way too fast... I got tired of adding water! But, after a few trips around with the mop on Sunday - it looks pretty good!




The girls managed to keep themselves busy - I felt like I didn't see them all day on Saturday! Their Ke$ha impressions:



They crack me up!



When the boys got home, they helped daddy load trash... Someone thinks that they are old enough to drive by themselves... really...



OH! How could I forget... Little man Haden turned 5 on Wednesday! I cannot believe how big he's gotten... Seems like yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital!!!

The boys helped make cupcakes and muffins for his bday:



ANYWAY - DON'T FORGET - BDAY party at our casa on August 7th for the boys... 3 and 5! :) Booking the bounce house today! :)

Much LOVE! Heather

Thursday, July 22, 2010

And on to the FLOORS!!!

And here we go! We've painted the rooms... and I installed the tile last weekend... Our hardwoods (well... laminate kick ass floors) came in Tuesday and have been acclamating to their new environment since then... Those go in this weekend! yay!!!
A few of the latest pics:



The new floors we picked out:



Rooms after paint:







We actually took a little breather last weekend and went to a bday party... Holt had a blast... Haden and Han did too - but I can't post her pic without a big FIT! haha