Spaghetti squash lasagna

Its pumpkin and squash season and so I had to make these awesome tasting boats. This recipe uses spaghetti squash and has all of your favorite lasagna flavors without all of the carbs.

These lasagna style boats takes the basic components of lasagna - the spaghetti sauce and cheese and stuffs them into the squash, which essentially replaces the spaghetti pasta. Once roasted the spaghetti squash can be fluffed up to long strands, just like the spaghetti pasta. Replacing the pasta with the squash helps cut carbs in half, boost the fiber content, and packs lots of vegetables into each serving.

For stuffing, make your choice of pasta sauce - choose from vegetable, chicken, turkey. I made these using ground chicken. You can also use your choice of cheese. I used feta, as that is our family fave. Choose from Parmesan, mozzarella, sharp cheddar, ricotta or Romano.
If you can find small sized squash then each half will be a good portion size per person. Otherwise 2 squashes can serve 4-6 persons generously.

Ingredients:

For the roasted squash

2 small spaghetti squash, cut in half and seeded

1 tbsp oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Feta cheese 

Fresh basil, chopped

For the tomato sauce/meat sauce (recipe here)

Choose your option of spaghetti sauce from the basic tomato, meat or vegetable sauce. 

1. Roasting the squash:  Preheat oven to 400 F. Brush the inner flesh of the spaghetti squash with oil and season with salt and pepper. Place, cut side down, on lightly greased baking sheet. Roast for about 30 - 40 min until flesh is easily pierced. 
2. Make the spaghetti sauce: While the squash is roasting, prepare your choice of spaghetti sauce. (recipe here)
3. Cooking the lasagna boats: Using a fork, gently scrape and fluff up some of the inside of each spaghetti squash half. Divide the sauce between them and top with cheese. Bake at 400 F for 10-15 minutes till flavors blend. Then broil until the cheese has melted, about 2-3 minutes. 
4. Serve hot garnished with fresh basil.

Variations: 

1. Use ground beef, Italian sausage, ground chicken or ground turkey in your meat sauce.
2. Use your choice of cheese (Parmesan, mozzarella, sharp cheddar or Romano) instead of feta cheese. 
3. Instead of making the sauce from scratch, use your favorite marinara or other tomato sauce.
4. Instead of stuffing the squash shells, bake it casserole-style in a baking dish. Layer cooked spaghetti squash strands with the pasta sauce and cheese. Continue building the layers, ending with cheese. Bake until bubbly.