Monday 16 December 2013

Deconstructed Bacon Carbonara Spaghetti Squash

 

     Monday, Monday, Monday.  I have a love hate relationship with today. Monday's are hard no matter what. But it's kind of exciting this week since it's the last full week before the holiday's start. My tree is naked on it's bottom 1/4. My 1 year old will not stop whacking the life out of it with a light saber, picking ornaments off it like they were apples and plain old running at full speed into it. Needless to say, I won't be putting out any presents until at least Christmas Eve!

   Do you have your meal plan for the holiday's, if you're hosting? I am doing both Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. How do you handle the holiday meals, go balls out and eat it all or be super strict and keep it tight all holiday? Is there even a middle ground on this one? Not for this gal! Ha ! My dinner plans for Christmas Eve are appies. The baked wings I posted on here earlier, sweet heat bacon wrapped chicken skewers and a personal family and friends fav, buffalo chicken dip. I have a version to make it Paleo, but I think my family might run into traffic if I mess with it. No one wants that on Christmas Eve! For the morning there were several requests for cinnamon buns. I will be letting go here and making the good, sticky, sugar ones. I like to tell myself about 30 times a day that I won't eat one. It's a beautiful, sunny day here in dreamland!! :))

   I will also have lots of my usual things on hand that I will try my best to stick to. Eggs, breakfast meatballs and fruit. But, I'm not even going to try and tell you I'm not having Bailey's in my coffee while my kids open presents. Or a mimosa. Or both. Screw you suggested serving size, you don't know me!!!!!!
My point here is, have fun and do whatever is in your comfort zone. But don't let food choices and worrying about what you crammed down your throat already, ruin your holiday. That's not supposed to be what the holiday's are all about. We all know that's whether or not I'm getting a double boiler or a veggie sprialelli under the tree!

   I have a few little holiday snacks to have around the house for you, they will be my next post. Spiced almonds and cashews, Macadamia Crunch and Baked Pretzels (which I've been told were the "best pretzels on earth", more than once!) Today I made a deconstructed Carbonara Spaghetti Squash. It was great. Well mine was, oooops! The final touch is to add soft poached eggs to the top. By this point my kids were eating me alive, and I overcooked Shane's eggs a tad. Ok, more like a hard boiled egg, but whatevs. He still got the point! Here it is, hope you love it!



Deconstructed Carbonara Spaghetti Squash
You need:
1 large or 2 medium sized spaghetti squash
4-6 slices of bacon
2-4 garlic cloves, sliced very thin (depending on your taste) 
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp butter
sea salt and pepper
2-4 eggs, depending how many per person you'd like.

pre heat oven to  375

Cut your spaghetti squash in half and remove the seeds and loose strings.
Once clean, brush the inside of your boobies (easy, I mean the squash. It's not Friday night yet!)
with the olive oil until all coated. Season to taste with the salt and pepper.


Put cut side down on a baking tray with a few inches of water to keep from burning. Cook for 35-40 minutes until the outside is easily pierced with a fork. 
In the meantime, slice up your bacon into smaller chunks. Pan fry over medium until crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan and SAVE the fat that was rendered out during frying. Over medium heat, add your sliced garlic into the pan. Cook only a minute or 2, watching very carefully as garlic burns very easily. Add the bacon back in and turn off heat.


once the squash is done and you can handle it without 3rd degree burns to your hands, fluff out the strands of the squash into a colander. Let it sit in the sink or over a bowl while it cools a bit. This helps some of the water release. Once cooled use a paper towel and push the squash down a bit to get out any more excess water. Dump the squash into a big mixing bowl. Mix 1-2 tbsp of butter in to coat. Add bacon/garlic mix to the bowl, reserving a tbsp or so to use for garnish. Stir to combine.


In a medium frying pan, heat over medium heat, greased. Crack your eggs into the pan slowly, not breaking the yolks.


Cover and cook for 2 minutes or so, until the eggs are just set. Mine are good when they have a slight white film over the yolk. Don't overcook the eggs, the runny yolk is the cream component of the sauce! 
Plate the spaghetti squash while the eggs are cooking. Slowly slide your egg(s) on top of the squash and garnish with your reserved bacon. Add a few sprinkles of grated parm if you are feeling daring!


Once you finally sit down after being so awesome, break open your yolk and mix over the top of your squash. Enjoy!!











   

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