Spaghetti Squash Alfredo with Bacon and Mushrooms

When switching to a healthier, gluten-free diet, pasta can be the absolute hardest dish to give up. Sure, gluten-free pastas do exist, but they are tricky to make and expensive to buy. At the end of the day, gluten-free pasta still isn’t a health food and probably shouldn’t be eaten on a regular basis.  So what is a pasta lover to do? Surely there is some type of vegetable that can serve as perfect vessel for all the dreamy pasta sauces that we know and love!?

Spaghetti Squash Alfredo
1 medium spaghetti squash
4-6 strips bacon
8-10 crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 cup alfredo sauce, as needed

Directions: Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Roast the squash for 1 hour (I rubbed my squash with bacon fat and set it in a pan for extra flavor, though many people roast their spaghetti squash directly on the oven racks).

While the squash is roasting, arrange bacon on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes, or until crispy. Set bacon aside to drain. Arrange mushroom slices on the bacon-greased baking tray and roast for about 5 minutes, stirring / flipping the mushrooms about half way through. Remove the mushrooms from the oven and add them to the alfredo sauce (there is an easy homemade alfredo sauce recipe at the end of this post). Crumble the bacon.

When the squash has finished roasting, remove from the oven and let cool. When cool enough to touch, cut length wise into two halves. Using a spoon, remove the seeds from both halves. Using a fork, pull the “spaghetti” from the inside of the squash into a separate bowl. Toss the “spaghetti” with the alfredo sauce and about half of the crumbled bacon. Serve on plates or within the hollowed out squash and top with more crumbled bacon just before serving.

SpaghettiSquash

Homemade Alfredo Sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
½ cup butter
¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 package of cream cheese (8 oz)
1 ½ cups whole milk, as needed
sea salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste

Directions: Heat butter in a sauce pan over medium heat until melted. Add minced garlic and sauté for about one minute. Add the cream cheese and stir constantly until the cream cheese has melted and combined with the butter. Whisk in the milk, about ¼ cup at a time, until the sauce is liquid and completely smooth. You may not need to use all of the milk that the recipe calls for. Add the grated parmesan cheese, sea salt, and black pepper and then whisk until the sauce is completely smooth.

 


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