Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

I have a delicious and easy dinner for you guys today, as promised on Wednesday, – but before I get started, it’s June 1st, so I have to wish my big sister Katherine a happy birthday!

Our family is strange – her birthday is June 1st, mine is July 1st and my parents were married (before they had kids, mind you) on August 1st. Funny how that all worked out…! (No, none of our births were scheduled either!)

This is Katherine’s last birthday before she has a little one running around (she’s due in late July) so make the most of it Katherine!

Today’s recipe is a gluten-free dish that is low in calories but high on the taste factor. It has all of the requirements I demand of a good, cheesy lasagna: rich tomato sauce with gooey cheese and lots of flavour.

The trick is making your own sauce and using a blend of part-skim cheeses to provide that flavour. This sauce recipe is quick and easy, so don’t worry about time, and because we’re using spaghetti squash instead of pasta, the calories are low, the nutrition is high and it’s suitable for gluten-free diets!

Plus, if you serve this lasagna with a side salad (which, obviously, I’ve been doing this month), you’re getting about 5 veggie servings in one meal, or something crazy like that.

Us food bloggers love veggies, right??

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

INGREDIENTS (serves 4):

4 cups spaghetti squash flesh (for tips and directions on cooking spaghetti squash, click here)
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese
2-3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

For sauce:

1/2 small onion, diced
1 tsp oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried oregano
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 can crushed tomatoes (1 1/2 cups) – I use Hunt’s, as they are rich smooth. If you can’t get Hunt’s, I recommend using tomato sauce instead.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oil in a large frying pan and saute onion until cooked. Add garlic, vinegar and tomato paste, stir well. Add herbs, nutmeg and crushed tomatoes/tomato sauce and simmer for 5-10 mins.

2. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a lasagna pan with cooking oil. Squeeze spaghetti squash flesh to get rid of as much liquid as possible (in the above photo you can see how it looks if you don’t – I was lazy, and don’t mind the water, so for these photos I didn’t squeeze my squash and the result is quite wet. If you’re serving this to guests, I recommend squeezing the squash beforehand!). Press all squash into the bottom of the lasagna pan.

3. Remove bay leaves from sauce and add sauce on top of the spaghetti squash layer.

4. Mix ricotta cheese with 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese and spread on top of the sauce layer. Top with remaining mozzarella. Sprinkle parsley over top.

4. Bake for 30 minutes or so and then broil a few minutes until golden brown and bubbling. Serve with salad and enjoy!

Nutritional information per slice if serves 4: