Spaghetti Squash Bake

I made this healthfully updated version of baked spaghetti last night and it was AWESOME! If you haven't tried spaghetti squash before in a recipe as a substitute, you should. A lot of times I hear people say yuck, spaghetti squash, I can't eat that stuff, but they haven't tried it in a dish actually. I personally am a fan of it right out of the skin, but most aren't, so placing it in a recipe for instance instead of noodles is a great alternate for it. Last night I used it in place of the normal high calorie high carb noodles in my baked spaghetti. I have attached the recipe, give it a try and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:

1 lb extra lean ground beef
1 onion, minced
1 bell pepper, minced (I prefer red or yellow for the sweetness)
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 spaghetti squash
4 cups of spaghetti sauce, your choice, the cleaner the better!
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Basil

*Mozzarella to top if you prefer

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Slice the spaghetti squash length wise and place on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with herbs, and bake for 1 hour or until soft to fork.
3. Cook ground beef and drained of all excess fat, place to the side
4. Saute onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, in olive oil until soft. Once cooked, add the meat and sauce to pan, simmer until warmed through.
5. Remove spaghetti squash from oven once cooked through and using a fork shred the inners out from side to side, it should look like strings of squash, resembling pasta. 
6. You can either place the squash in a dish, top with sauce, and bake for a short time (for family style presentation) or serve up each bowl separately.

In my house we decided to serve each bowl separately, generously sauced, and some sprinkled mozzarella on top! Great served with a side salad!

Since I wouldn't be home until late yesterday evening, I precooked the squash and precut the veggies. This made my evening meal preparation fast and simple! With squash already cooked prep time was only about 15 min. Yummo!