And don’t forget this delicious lasagna can also be served for your upcoming tailgating events, football party or game nights or potluck or Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas holiday dinner or brunch parties! It’s been pretty cold over last 2 days and all I needed was a cozy and comforting dish to warm me up. I usually resort to a bowl of soup or bowl of ramen or pasta. However, I wanted to eat something cheesy, and wanted the dish to be healthy at the same time. It is usually a tough challenge to achieve such balance, but this where the star of this dish, Spaghetti Squash, comes to the rescue. Spaghetti squash, a fall and winter vegetable is rich in fiber, antioxidants and other nutrients, and its texture, low calorie, low carb and low fat properties makes it perfect for its use in salads and as a pasta dish. It is one of the best aletrnative to spaghetti noodles. These squashes are available in plenty during this time of the year at our local Farmer’s market - and I usually keep 1-2 of them in stock in my pantry. Instead of preparing a simple spaghetti squash pasta, I decided to take it to the next level of cheesiness. I decided to make lasagna - trust me they are super easy to put together. Including baking time it take less than 45 minutes from kitchen to dinner table. I have used three types of cheeses - namely ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella, but feel free to mix and match based on what you have on hand. I have used a small (1 lb) spaghetti squash for this recipe as only two of us were home that night. This recipe yielded more than enough lasagna for two, that we had some left overs for the next day as well. If you prefer to skip on the cheese, you can in fact follow the steps below to prepare a delicious spaghetti squash pasta - skip the baking process altogether, just drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and garnish with shavings of parmesan cheese just before serving. Pasta dish would indeed be ready in less than 20 mins. I have baked and served individual portions of this lasagna in two ramekins and second helpings in a mini casserole. You can definitely bake this in a glass casserole instead. Another approach would be to bake it right inside the spaghetti squash bowl. For this extract only 80 to 90 percent of the spaghetti squash after it is microwaved, so that the bowl has some strength. Mix the extracted spaghetti squash in pasta sauce, transfer it back to the bowl, add cheese and bake as directed in the steps below. You will have fewer dishes to clean up after dinner 🙂 Do give this simple yet delicious recipe a try and let me know how it turned out. Hope you all will have a delicious World Pasta Day!

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Recipe card

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  Preparation time : 45 minutesServes : 4 Small spaghetti Squash - 1Olive oil - 1  tbspOnion thinly sliced - 1Garlic cloves chopped - 3Serrano pepper / Green chile finely chopped - 1Mushroom chopped - 4 ozBoiled and mashed potato - 1Pasta sauce  - 1 ½ cupGreen peas (fresh / frozen) - ½ cupSalt - to tasteBlack pepper powder - to tasteChile powder / Cayenne pepper powder - ½ tspDried basil leaves - 1 tspDried Oregano - ¼ tspRiccota cheese - 4 tbspParmesan grated - 2 tbspMozzarella cheese sliced - 4 oz / 100g Step I

Take whole spaghetti squash and make two small slits all the way to the center using knife about an inch below the top. The slits help steam to escape from within the squash as they are cooked. Microwave the squash for 5 minutes. After cooking squash in the microwave, let it cool for about 10 minutes. Then, cut it into half length-wise and remove the seeds. Using a spoon or a fork extract spaghetti squash, leaving off only the skin. Keep this aside.

Step II

In a non-stick pan on medium high heat, add olive oil. Once the oil is slightly warm, add onions, garlic cloves and saute till onion turns translucent. To this add serrano, mushroom and mashed potaoes. Saute it for 5 minutes Then add pasta sauce, green peas and cook till it comes to a simmer.  Season the sauce with salt, black pepper powder, and cayenne powder, dried basil leaves and oregano as per your taste. Add the extracted spaghetti squash and mix well. At this stage you can serve it as spaghetti squash pasta. But we will take it a step further.

Step III

Preheat the oven to 425 degree F. Transfer the spaghetti squash pasta to an oven-proof baking dish, filling it 70-80 percent through. Now add dollops of ricotta cheese, parmesan and top it with sliced mozzarella. Bake this in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and golden on top. Remove and let it cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Spaghetti Squash Lasagna is now ready. Enjoy this wonderful dish with your family! Bon appétit. Spaghetti Squash Lasagna - 64Spaghetti Squash Lasagna - 22Spaghetti Squash Lasagna - 50Spaghetti Squash Lasagna - 1Spaghetti Squash Lasagna - 87Spaghetti Squash Lasagna - 59