Parmesan Scalloped Spaghetti Squash

A friend of mine made my first spaghetti squash back in the fall. She brought a cheesy kale dish made with it and I loved it. Coach wasn't a fan but he thought it was the sauce.

So normally when I make our favorite ultra-crispy pork chops, I make Parmesan scalloped potatoes to go with it. This time I decided to change things up and use a spaghetti squash dish instead.

I basically made a sauce like from the potato dish and stirred it in with the squash and all the cheeses. Then I baked the whole thing to hot and bubbly.

Once again, phone pictures because that's all I have around when I think about pictures!

I sliced the squash in half and use a spoon to scrape out the seeds and loose gunk (pumpkin style). I placed the halves cut-side down in a baking dish with about an inch of water. Then I baked it at 350 for 45 minutes until the skin was blistering. Take it out of the oven and let it cool just enough to handle. Use a fork to scrape out the insides into spaghetti like strands. I placed the strands in a buttered glass baking dish.

 I'll be honest- I could stop here and just eat it with salt and pepper. I love this stuff. But I stuck with the plan and started a Parmesan sauce.

I stirred up a roux with equal parts butter and flour and about 2 cloves of minced garlic. I added milk and cream and whisked until the roux was all dissolved. I sprinkled in a liberal amount of thyme, Parmesan, a cracked black pepper. Picture of the roux was all I got for you (I was in a rush folks, dinner had to be ready by the time Coach came home!).

 I poured the sauce over the squash and stirred in more mozzarella and Parmesan. Then I sprinkled even more cheese on top and popped it back in the oven at 350. The squash holds on to the yellow color pretty strongly so it's not the white cheesiness that the potatoes have. Plus, you know, camera phone.

All in all, it was good. I took all the leftovers and just ate them for lunch. :) Coach tolerated it and ate a big helping but he still wasn't the hugest fan. It was improved, but still not ranking high up his list.

Let me know if you make it any better!!

Better Poppyseed Dressing

So with all this madness with the new house, me moving to a new apartment, working like crazy, and being lazy, I don't work out much. I figure when I'm settled in the new town I'll figure out some fitness plan. In the meantime, I eat a lot of rabbit food and try to keep my diet in check. (Except that it's summer so that means I have a lot ice cream right now.) Not to mention, a cool salad on a hot day is my idea of perfect.

Now as far as salads go, I adore Panera. They rock my world, especially now that I get free stuff every time thanks to the myPanera card. But I can't afford to buy every rabbit meal I eat, therefore I cook. Since it's summer, Panera has their strawberry poppyseed salad available. As much as I love most of their salads (the Cobb, Caesar, and Asian are favorites of mine), this one doesn't do it for me. Because I've found a recipe one better. ;-)
First make this dressing, it should make enough for a few salads a week for lunch:

¾ cup sugar (or Splenda if you're like that)
1/3 cup cider vinegar (or you can use an apple balsamic)

1 tsp. salt
½ cup oil

1 tsp. dry mustard
½ tsp poppyseeds

Mix it all together and store in a covered container. If you get fancy you can actually buy salad dressing containers to keep your home-made dressings in. I want one (or three) but haven't actually found any I like yet. I'd love suggestions!

Then when lunch time comes, all you need to do is tear open a bag of romaine lettuce or spinach (use a dark colored leaf for maximum flavor and vitamins), slice up an apple and strawberries, toss in some walnuts, celery, and green onion, bada bing, bada boom, you've got a yummy summer salad.

I chop the strawberry, celery and green onions ahead of time and keep in another container ready to go. The apple I slice daily because I'll end up eating the whole apple.

It's a great meal because it tastes like summer (we all know how obsessed I am) but it has ingredients easily available during the winter. Not to mention you get two servings of vegetables and one serving of fruit in one meal. Fabulous!

*PS- this salad is super cute for Fourth of July, add some blueberries to make a red, white, and blue color splash.

*PPS- this is also good with chicken if you're looking for the protein. If I add chicken, I usually use some leftover rotisserie chicken because it's more salty (to balance with the sweet dressing).

Disclaimer- this isn't an "original" recipe. I have seen versions of it ALL over the place. I have no idea who the original creator is, they are a genius though.