KITCHEN KREATION: Low Carb Spaghetti with Homemade Sauce

I haven't posted a recipe in a while, but tonight I had the insane craving for some spaghetti. The hubby and I have been watching what we're eating lately and I thought that since we were on such a great trend, I would find a recipe on a way to make this a healthier alternative.
Enter the wonders of spaghetti squash...
(Ahhhhh)
Now, I did not grow up eating any kind of squash, so tonight is most definitely an experiment for me. On the menu will be spaghetti squash smothered with homemade spaghetti sauce. We will be having sauteed chicken as well made in a chicken parmesan style. I wasn't in the mood to go to the grocery store so we will have to make due with whatever ingredients are already in the pantry and the refrigerator.
For the spaghetti squash recipe and cooking directions, I remembered seeing a video from Monique at DivasCanCook for a "Vegetable Garden Spaghetti Made With Spaghetti Squash". She always makes everything look so incredibly delicious, so I thought, hey, it looks healthy and it looks good. We'll give it a try.
For the actual spaghetti sauce recipe, I scoured different Youtube videos in search of some direction. I watched a video by Giada from her Everyday Italian show simply titled, "Simple Tomato Sauce". I watched Chef Umberto from Everyone's Italian with his video titled, "Classic Marinara Sauce". I also watched Nicko's video for "Easy Spaghetti Sauce" and Jack's video for "How to Make Spaghetti Sauce" but both of them make their spaghetti sauce with red wine and meat in it. Since I want my sauce to go with other things and not just be a ready-made sauce for spaghetti, I decided to leave the meat out and add lots of good veggies to it. I also don't particularly like red wine, so I definitely didn't want to add it to my spaghetti sauce. As a result, the recipe I came up with is an insane combination with additions and deletions from all four videos to make my own very special "Kitchen Kreation". I'll let you know at the end of the post how it came out...


28 oz. canned Tomato Puree
28 oz. canned Crushed Tomatoes
6 oz. can Tomato Paste
6.5 oz. can Mushrooms (can use fresh if you like)
1 package McCormick Italian Spaghetti seasoning
2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup chopped onions
1 chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped bell peppers
1 cup water
2 tsp Italian Seasoning
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp olive oil

1. Heat pot on medium heat. When pot is warmed, add olive oil to pot.
2. Add onions, celery, and bell peppers to pot. Saute until tender.
3. Add minced garlic to pot, saute until tender and fragrant (approx 1-2 minutes).
4. Add carrots and mushrooms to pot. Stir well.
5. Add tomato puree, crushed tomatoes, and tomato paste to pot.
6. Add water and all seasonings (Italian Spaghetti seasoning, Italian seasoning, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, brown sugar, & bay leaf).
7. Stir well until well incorporated. Heat to boiling.
8. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

The spaghetti squash itself was pretty easy to make. Like I said, I followed Monique's video since I had no idea how to make a spaghetti squash. I wasn't sure if we were going to like it or not, so I did not buy a big squash. Here are the preparation steps.

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Take a big knife and cut the squash in half lengthwise.
3. Take a spoon and remove the seeds and stringy stuff in the middle of the squash until it is completely cleaned out.
4. Then, place both halves of the squash in a casserole dish with approximately 3/4 cup water poured around the squash in the dish.
5. Place the dish in the oven and allow to bake for 1 hour.
6. After done, remove the squash from the oven and allow to cool.
7. Take a fork and "rake" the squash into a clean dish to form the spaghetti strands.
8. Pour spaghetti sauce over squash and enjoy.

Ok, taste test is complete. This turned out to be a really good meal. We also had salad, garlic bread (made with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter on sandwich thins), and sauteed chicken to go with it. Who knew eating healthy could be this good? This low-carb alternative to pasta will definitely be on the menu again. Try it, I think you'll like it. Now, I will say that it doesn't taste like pasta, but it looks like pasta and is an awesome alternative to pasta. It also tastes really great with tomato sauce. I think it has it's own taste. So, if you don't go into the meal thinking that it is going to taste just like pasta, I think you will be very pleasantly surprised.
Enjoy!