When you want pasta, bacon AND to eat more vegetables, this recipe does the trick!

I love creating new versions of spaghetti squash “pastas”! If you’ve been following my blog, you may have seen the recipes I’ve had for Vegan Pad Thai, Fresh Tomato, Basil & Mozzarella Spaghetti Squash “Pasta”, and Watermelon Radish, Shishito Pepper & Spaghetti Squash “Ramen” Bowl, which all use spaghetti squash “noodles”. Using spaghetti squash as a substitute is a great way to sneak more vegetables into your diet, and to enjoy similar pasta/noodle dishes with a lighter twist. I had some beautiful Taproot Farm organic kale, parsley, garlic and spaghetti squash on hand I was inspired to use. You can never go wrong adding bacon and cheese to the mix, and the end result was delicious! The meal definitely satisfied my “I need pasta now” and “I need to eat more vegetables after all the holiday cookies” cravings haha! I hope you all enjoy this delicious recipe as much as I have – happy cooking!

Makes 2 Servings

Recipe by © Alysha Melnyk 2019

The Kitchenologist©

@alyshamelnyk

Kitchen Tools:

Oven, Preheated to 375°F

9 Inch by 13 Inch Oven Safe Baking Dish

Large Sauté Pan

Measuring Cups

Measuring Spoons

Ingredients:

1 Small/Medium Spaghetti Squash, cooked

3 Cups Destemmed Kale, torn into pieces

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

1/3 Cup Vegetable Stock, Chicken Stock or Water

Desired amount of Chili Flakes (I used ~1/2 teaspoon)

2 Cloves Garlic, minced (if desired)

6 Slices Bacon, cooked until crispy and then crumbled

1/2 Cup Asiago Cheese (or cheese of choice)

Fresh Parsley

Black Pepper

Salt (if desired)

Instructions:

1. First, cook your spaghetti squash.
2. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
3. Rinse and dry spaghetti squash.
4. Take knife and makes large, deep slits all over the spaghetti squash. This helps the spaghetti squash cook evenly and also not explode in your oven.
5. Roast a medium/large spaghetti squash for a total of 80 minutes (but flip at 40 minutes). If your spaghetti squash is smaller, cut the time to 60 minutes total.
6. While the spaghetti squash is cooking, you can prepare your kale and bacon.
7. In a large sauté pan, combine 3 cups destemmed kale with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/3 cup vegetable stock, chicken stock or water, desired amount of chili flakes, and 2 cloves minced garlic if desired. Cook until kale is wilted and liquid has cooked off.
8. Transfer kale to an oven safe bowl (you can cook your bacon in the same pan).
9. Fry the bacon to a crisp, and then drain the pieces on paper towels to remove residual grease.
10. After this, crumble the bacon on top of the kale.
11. Once the spaghetti squash is done roasting (*leave the oven preheated), carefully lift the squash out of the dish with oven mitts and set on clean surface. Using a knife, cut the spaghetti squash lengthwise in half. Scoop out the seeds (it’s a bit easier to do this while the squash is still warm) and let the squash halves cool slightly (normally happens pretty fast – around 5 to 10 minutes).
12. Use a fork and brush down the sides of the squash to get the spaghetti squash “noodles”. Add these to your kale/bacon bowl and mix to combine.
13. Sprinkle asiago cheese and black pepper on top if desired. Place the oven safe bowl back in the oven if you want to warm everything a bit/melt the cheese slightly (you can of course also do this in the microwave). Top with fresh parsley (and extra cheese if desired) afterwards.
14. Enjoy!