Hi friends, remember me? It's been a while, I know. I have SO MANY good things I want to share with you: makeup tips, the 411 on the best under garments in town, Sunday meal planning secrets, my favorite new workouts, and the importance of dating your spouse. The bad news (for you) is I'm busy having too much fun this Summer to sit down and give you all the deets. Because I'm not the type of girl to leave you hanging, I wanted to give you a quick post on my new obsession. Veggie boats! For some reason, I'm on a hell of a boat kick. Seriously, WHY does everything tastes better in a boat?? I'm talking pizza boats, zucchini boats, taco boats and now I'm totally crushing on these lasagna boats. I saw this recipe on cooking light and quickly adapted it to make it 21 day fix friendly. YUMMMMMMMM.
Lasagna Tastes Better in a Boat:
- 2 small spaghetti squash (about 1½ pounds each)
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves (chopped) divided
- 1 (8-ounce) package fresh baby spinach
- ½ cup part-skim ricotta cheese
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- Pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
- 1 lb 93% lean ground turkey
- 1 Jar low-sodium/low sugar marinara sauce (such as Cucina Antica)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
- Preheat oven to 425°.
- Using a fork, poke holes all over the squash. Place whole squash in the microwave. Heat 3-4 minutes on each side for a total of 6-8 minutes. Set aside to cool (about 10 minutes). DISCLAIMER Don't overheat or your squash will explode like mine, which is why I have some odd shaped 'shells' in my photos. But what the hell, even master food preppers F#ck up. :-)
- Once cooled, cut in half and scoop out seeds - throw out seeds. Scrape inside of squash with a fork to remove spaghetti-like strands. Place strands into a bowl.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to coat the pan. Add 2 cloves of garlic and cook 30 seconds. Add spinach, cooking until spinach wilts (about 1 minute). Remove from heat. Combine spinach mixture, squash strands, ricotta cheese, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, half of the mozzarella cheese and half of the Parmesan cheese in a medium bowl.
- Return skillet to medium-high heat. Add turkey and the last 2 cloves of garlic to pan; cook 4 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Add marinara sauce. Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer 4 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Spoon sauce evenly into the bottom of each squash half. Top evenly with squash mixture. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Bake at 425° for 20 minutes.
- Switch oven to Broil. Broil squash 1 to 2 minutes or until cheese is golden brown and bubbly. Remove from oven. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
For 21 day fixers - I'd count 1 small shell as 1 green, 1 red, 1 blue
BONUS TIP: To make Pizza boats just switch up the marinara for a 'clean' pizza sauce and swap the ground turkey for turkey sausage and top with your favorite veggies or turkey pepperoni.
I PROMISE I will get around to giving you all the good stuff mentioned above but for now I'm enjoying long days at the beach with my boys, late Summer nights in the backyard and one (or two) too many white wine spritzers. Sorry I'm not sorry.