I’ve always been proud of my turkey bolognese: a simple sauce I whip up using olive oil, onions, garlic, lean ground turkey and – depending on how much time I have – either a store bought tomato sauce or a can of pureed tomatoes. When I’m feeling extra indulgent, I add some organic dark brown sugar to the onions to brown them which adds a lovely little extra flavor to an otherwise salty dish.
Grass-fed, hormone-free, free range turkey is a great alternative to beef as it has less fat/calories and cutting down on red meat is never a bad thing.
My slow progression over the years went from beef bolognese to turkey, from semolina spaghetti to a gluten-free alternative (quinoa/brown rice pasta) to yesterday’s amazing discovery: spaghetti squash.
Now let’s be honest, I knew about spaghetti squash before yesterday. I just was too lazy to try it out. It sounded like so much work.
1) Pick out the right squash (this honestly was a big intimidation factor until I realized most stores just label, ta-da!, problem solved.)
2) I had to like figure out how to cook it. (Turns out you just shove it in the oven for an hour at 375 while you do other things.)
3) I have to scrape out stuff in the middle and stuff. (With the help of a spoon and a tong I had those seeds out in 45 secs.) Plus I had enough for like 3 days of meals.
Ultimately, I now have a recipe that has less fat, calories and refined flour. It also honors my gluten intolerance and has more veggies in it!
So no more excuses… Go pick-up a spaghetti squash tomorrow. I totally enjoyed my faux-pasta dish and the lightness that came with it. In fact, I got up and went straight to a dance class right after. Had I eaten some real pasta, I would have beelined straight to the couch for a little snooze.