Spaghetti Squash Pizza Pie

I love pizza. It's my one weakness on the savory side of life. I could eat an entire medium pizza all. by. my. self. I kid you not. It's as if my stomach opens up and becomes a black hole that sucks down each piece that goes into my mouth and shoots it into oblivion. I NEVER get full. I simply just have to stop eating.

And this is why I can only indulge every so often. Or else I would be as big as a house.

So I wanted an alternative to pizza that used the same flavors but wouldn't bust my calorie budget. I adapted a recipe from Hungry Girl for a spaghetti-like "pie." Her recipe called for Tofu Shirataki Noodles which, to me, taste like rubbery cellophane. I didn't want to use those or the carb-laden spaghetti noodles either. See...I like quantity...and while whole wheat noodles are better than pizza, you still have to watch the portion sizes. What better substitute than spaghetti squash?



Here it is folks. Spaghetti Squash Pizza Pie (a loose adaptation of the original recipe from Hungry Girl)

Ingredients
1 small/med spaghetti squash
2 cups marinara or pasta sauce, divided (whatever is your favorite)
8 oz. fresh, sliced button mushrooms
1/2 cup fat free egg substitute
20 slices turkey pepperoni
1 oz. shredded, part skim mozzarella
1 TBSP dried oregano
1 tsp salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 and spray a 9 inch pie plate with cooking spray.

Cook and shred spaghetti squash in whatever method you prefer (boil it, bake it, nuke it...whatever floats your boat). In a large bowl, combine squash, 1/2 cup marinara sauce, mushrooms, egg substitute, oregano, salt and toss well.

Place half of the squash mix in the pie plate evenly. Spread 1/2 cup marinara sauce on top and layer 10 slices of pepperoni on top. Then toss the rest of the mix into the pie plate and smooth it out.

Bake for 20 minutes to let the mixture set up then spread the remaining sauce on top. Layer the rest of the pepperoni and top with the shredded mozzarella and put it back into the oven until the cheese is nice and bubbly.



Let it cool so it will set...if you can resist...and cut it into 4 servings. (I told you I like quantity) This goes great with a salad and possibly some bread sticks if you're feeling a little crazy!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Wow it's been a long time since my last post. Things have been crazy busy and I've been cooking and baking a lot...just haven't had the time to upload my pictures and post them. I've been baking since Monday for a wedding cake order for Saturday and so I haven't had much time for home-cooked dinners. I even gave into my husband's requests for catfish nuggets. Yes, fried catfish nuggets in the mini-deep fryer. Needless to say I didn't eat much of that meal.

Back to my story. I had one more tier to bake tonight and so I was trying to think about what I could cook for dinner that would be tasty and healthy. After doing about twenty different mental scans of my pantry, fridge, and freezer while at work I decided I would use some frozen boneless skinless chicken tenders and brown rice with broccoli.

I know what you're thinking. That's it? Plain chicken, rice, and broccoli? Um, that would be a big fat NO!! I most definitely would not blog about that. After taking inventory I ended up making the following dinner:


Citrus BBQ Chicken Tenders, Spanish Style Brown Rice and Broccoli. Yummmmm.

I'll post a recipe for the rice a little later but for now, I leave you with my Citrus BBQ Chiken Tenders. I must make a disclaimer...I did not measure exactly so these are what I like to call "guesstimates."

Ingredients
2 oranges
3-4 TBSP BBQ sauce (I used original flavor)
2 tsp lite soy sauce
2 TBSP chili sauce
3 TBSP Dijon mustard
10 chicken tenders (boneless, skinless...fresh or frozen)

Directions
Zest and juice the two oranges in a large bowl. Add the BBQ sauce, lite soy sauce, chili sauce, dijon mustard and whisk together. Add the chicken tenders and make sure they are coated well. Cover and place in the fridge to marinate for 20-30 minutes.

I used my George Foreman to "grill" the chiken tenders (again...limited on time and resources here). Meanwhile I pour the leftover marinade into a small sauce pan, add a little more BBQ sauce and chili sauce (maybe about 1-2 TBSP each), brought it to a boil, turned it on low and let it simmer 2-3 minutes so it would thicken. You can use this as a dipping sauce or do what I did and pour that citrus goodness all over those tasty chicken tenders!