First, a note on how I shop and prep. I tend to go to the store when I'm hungry and completely out of food--I do NOT recommend this as it could easily yield impulse buys and overshopping. But another important factor is that I am frugal:** I seek out the best value to combine the fewest ingredients with the staples at home for maximum health and flavor. I don't tend to buy things just because they are on sale (ahem, someone I know who looks like me) nor do I go in with a recipe and list and try to buy everything I don't have (ahem, Mom!) but if any of my favorites are on sale for a significant savings or the items can withstand long shelf life (pantry) or freezing (re: meats and frozen standbys like high quality pizza and ice cream) I throw 'em in. Yesterday at Pricechopper, the squash was on sale for $0.79/lb, ($0.45 total for my .57lb squash) Emiril's [fancy] pasta sauce was on sale for $2.50/jar (cheaper than the cheap stuff), an entire rotisserie chicken was $5.99 and I already had some cheese at home. I only used half of the sauce in my recipe, so the rest is frozen in ice cube trays and the remaining rotisserie chicken will go into sandwiches, soups, and burritos later this week.
Prep was too easy. On the weeknights, I prefer one pot (pan/oven dish) recipes so I can throw everything together and let it cook while I get ready for my day ahead, or plow through a Netflix marathon, or vacuum something in the house (my favorite home alone pastimes!). This also makes for easy cleaning, which is essential for saving time for more important things (see above). Without my partner around to split the evening routines, I also find it incredibly annoying to cook a delicious meal only to have to scrub out the dishes. When I am home alone and there is no you-cook-I-clean teamwork, I'll rinse everything and pile up neatly for a morning wash-up while the coffee brews.
Here is my recipe for Spaghetti Squash Lasagna:
Ingredients:
- 1 Jar store-bought marinara sauce (if no fancy versions are on sale, throw a cheaper jar in a pot and add a few sprigs of fresh or dried herbs (sage, basil, rosemary), a dash of sugar and a dash of balsamic vinegar!)
- 1 Small/Medium Spaghetti Squash (mine was .57 lbs for two individual lasagnas)
- 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar, you can use part skim shredded mozzarella)
- (Optional) 1 cup part skim ricotta
- (Optional) 8 tsp parmesan cheese
- (Optional) 1/2 cup meat (shredded rotisserie chicken, sausage cooked w/out casings, etc)
Preheat oven to 425°F.
After the squash cools down a bit, use a a fork to scrape out the squash - with spaghetti squash it will naturally scoop out into long strands (that look like spaghetti!).
In one 9x9-inch or two individual 5 x 7-inch oven safe baking dishes, ladle 1/4 cup marinara sauce on the bottom of each dish. Top each with 1/2 cup of cooked spaghetti squash and spread evenly. Top each with a layer of meat (chicken and/or sausage) 1/4 cup ricotta and/or shredded cheese. Because I was using found objects, I pulled apart some of the rotisserie's breast and layered on a small bit of sharp cheddar. Continue layering sauce-squash-cheese-meat-sauce until you run out of squash (I got 2.5 layers from my .57 lb. little squash!). Top with more cheese of your choosing (Parmesan, Mozzarella, or found-object cheese!).
Bake at 400°F for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melty. Dig in!
(note: if you made two individual servings, let the extra serving cool off, top with two layers of foil or the lid, and wrap up for the freezer or fridge!).
A few notes:
I like to improvise.
For sauces, I usually start with a store-bought base and add dashes of fresh herbs, cracked black pepper, a smidgen of brown sugar and balsamic (or red wine if I'm drinking it anyway!) to dress up a cheap jar of marinara. When purchasing store-bough sauce, look on the back label at the ingredients list and ensure that sugar and extra additives are minimal to none. The less ingredients, and of higher quality, the better. For marinara, look for the basics: tomatoes, olive oil, onions, etc. I usually spend $2-$3 on a sale jar and stock up on the good stuff when the price drops. The Emiril's jars were half-off and delicious, no extra dashes necessary--I poured straight onto the squash!
Cheese--add as much or as little as you like. The sauce and squash had such rich flavors that I omitted the ricotta and added very minimal yet flavorful sharp cheddar in my layers.
For extra inner-layers, I add meat or another vegetable depending on what's on hand. For sausage, I buy fresh, single chicken sausages (about $2 each) from the deli counter and remove the casings before cooking in a small pan, then add to the sauce for a quick and flavorful boost. Last night I bought a whole rotisserie chicken and pulled off what I needed as I layered. The chicken will be used for other dishes this week, leftover sauce is frozen in ice cube trays then tossed in a Ziploc, and the squash was just the right amount. Avoid the temptation to buy a bigger squash, the one I bought was about the size of a large softball. If in doubt, weigh it in! For two individual lasagnas, one .57 lb. squash was perfect.
*Technically this isn't "lasagna" because there is no pasta in here, but it is a delicious, healthy, buttery butter-free alternative!
**Ramit Sethi defines Cheap vs Frugal
