What's everyone up to? Doing some festive decorating? My husband finished putting up our outside lights today, and we got our tree up. It feels good to get things done. Can't believe how fast the Christmas season has arrived!
I love Christmas and all the stuff that goes with it. This will be our first Christmas since we've changed our lifestyle and eating habits. We began in January, last year. I do enjoy baking, and trying to make sure my kid has a homemade item in his school snack instead of a packaged mystery thing! I will experiment a bit this year and see if I can come up with any Paleo or clean baking treats. What's your weakness? I am a shortbread cookie whore. I'll say it. Don't judge me! I also enjoy a good bowl of nuts and bolts. Not the worst thing ever invented, but also not the kind of thing you just eat "a bit" of! Luckily I am not at work this year, as this tends to be where a lot of treats hangout! I should be able to avoid temptation, hopefully! Although, I'm sure my gramma will give me some Jesus sized bucket of nuts and bolt in my stocking! I am definitely salty/crunchy over sweets any day. For me, I'm kind of an all or nothing sort of eater. I need to just avoid those little shortbread dirty talkers, or I end up in a dark room with a pile of crumbs all around me! Can you limit yourself, or do you end up splurging to the point of no return? I will for sure share any Christmas food successes I end up with.
I bought the last 2 spaghetti squash they had at the store this week. I try my best to never waste anything, so I had to use one up tonight. Usually we have been having it a s a side dish, but I managed to convince Shane that he wouldn't die of starvation if we had it as our main course. I made a spicy bison and sausage meat sauce, and served it on top of the squash. I also made a half batch of the almond flour sandwich rounds I posted in an earlier entry. This is one of those things that I never would of thought we'd be enjoying, a year ago. There are so many different ways to prepare it, and it is very filling and great for you. My oldest son wouldn't touch this if you paid him in marshmallows, and my youngest eats it with no care in the world. Then again, he was also licking sparkly tree ornaments earlier today. Whatevs. Watch tomorrow for slow roasted sirloin roast beef with Paleo yorkshire pudding!
Roasting your squash:
1 large sized spaghetti squash
baking tray
1 cup or so of water
olive oil
butter
preheat oven to 375
cut your squash in half ( I find cross wise is easier than the long way)
scoop out seeds and any loose flesh
Place your ugly boobies, I mean squash, on the baking tray (sorry, no parchment paper this time) and pour enough water in the tray to cover the surface. Check about half way through and add more water if it has dried out.
Cook for 35-45 minutes, checking water halfway through. **note- watch yourself when you open the oven. The skin on the squash gets ripper hot and will give you and unwanted eye brow removal if you get your face too close ! (squash is done when outer skin is easily pierced with a fork)
I made the meat sauce in the meantime and let it simmer. I just browned my bison and chopped sausage in a pan with 3 cloves of garlic, half a diced white onion, onion powder, chili powder, pepper flakes, oregano, basil, sea salt and pepper. It's one of those things that you can add whatever you want to it. I dropped the ball a bit and forgot to take some of my sauce base from the freezer. So I used this as a base..
These are the 2 meats I used...
Once your squash is done, use an oven mitt and turn the squash on it's side to let it cool a bit. Once you can handle it without burning off your fingerprints, use a fork and scrape out the strands into a large bowl.
Mix in 2 tbsp of olive oil and about 1 tbsp of butter. Stir until evenly coated. You can either plate your squash and then serve meat sauce on top, or dump the sauce into the bowl and mix it all together into one big party. Either way is totally delicious! Sprinkle with some good quality Parmesan cheese if you really want to be a winner....
I made the almond flour rounds as the squash was in (http://comfybelly.com/2013/08/sandwich-rounds-using-almond-flour/#.Upq07MRDuSp) and there was dinner! Enjoy!!
Where do you get your bison from? ~ Donna
ReplyDeleteDonna, a friend was doing a fundraiser with her daughter for "CoCo Brooks" a company out of Airdrie, I thin. I ordered it from that! Safeway does sell bison burgers, though. Not sure if they have other products.
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