Spaghetti Squash and Cauliflower Cheese Sticks {Recipes}

First off I hope you all had a good thanksgiving last week full of yummy food, thankfulness in your heart and family surrounding you. I am sorry for my absence on the blog last week but I was doing all those things, enjoying and soaking up all the thanksgiving goodness at my parents house in Vegas with my family that I am so thankful for. The Holiday season has started, and although I can't believe how fast it has snuck up on us, I could not be more excited!!! I have some fun holiday tutorials and ideas to come but to start this month off I am sharing a yummy and healthy recipe your family will sure to love.

Fitness and health are both very important to me. So much so that I got a degree in them, taught them and now share them with you on this little ol blog. Both working out and eating healthy are equally important in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It is easy to see if you know me or even just read my blog which of the two is my true passion. I love to exercise, workout, move, run however you want to say it. You can find some of my favorite workout posts HERE and HERE with more to come. Eating clean and healthy has always been more of a challenge because well I love food. So when I am able to find recipes that taste amazing and are good for you I simply cannot pass them up. I have to try them, tweek them a little for my taste buds and my family, and when I love them I have to share them with all of you. I am an Italian food lover, and pasta will forever be apart of my diet, but in moderation and now I will slip this little recipe in every once and a while to replace the wheat pasta just to keep my body happy. Did I mention how yummy this all this??? Well lets get going then.

Spaghetti Squash Prep

 

Ingredients: 

-Spaghetti Squash
-Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-sea salt
-Freshly ground black pepper

 Directions:

I recommend using one spaghetti squash for a family of four and two for any more than that.

First you are going to cut off the stem and then cut it in half long ways. This is a really thick squash and hard to cut through like a pumpkin so I used our biggest sharpest knife along with a little help of my husband's muscles. 

Once it is cut in half just simply scoop out all the seeds and weird insides and throw them away just like you would a pumpkin before you carve it. 

Once the inside is all clean and ready simply brush on your EVOO and sprinkle with salt and pepper on the edges and inside. Next you will place them face down onto a cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes or until you can pierce a fork through the squash easily.

Let them cool for 10 minutes, or until squash is cool enough to handle.

With a fork, scrape out the spaghetti strands and place in a bowl.

Then you can serve as desired. I simply just placed it on the plate, just like wheat spaghetti, and added a couple meatballs and marinara sauce.  You could also eat as is with just the EVOO and salt and pepper, with some Parmesan sprinkled on top, or add some butter and herbs.

Now that you have your spaghetti lets get on with a healthier, paleo and gluten free garlic cheese sticks, made of Cauliflower rather than a wheat dough. 

Cauliflower Cheese sticks

 Ingridents 

-Cauliflower head, riced

-1 tsp extra virgin olive oil 

-2 cloves garlic, minced

-1 large egg white, beaten 

-1/2 cup mozerella cheese, grated 

-2 tsp dry italian seasoning 

Directions

-First you are going to wash and then rice the cauliflower. All ricing means, in this case, is to grate so I just grated it with a cheese grater. 

Place riced cauliflower in a microwave bowl, and microwave for 5 minutes until it is soft.

While the cauliflower is in the microwave, heat oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat and add garlic. Saute until soft.

In the cauliflower bowl add and mix with the warmed cauliflower the egg white, garlic, Italian seasoning, and 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese.

Spread mixture onto a baking pan with parchment paper on it. Then I formed mine just into a little rectangle or the form of the pan it is on.
 

Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees, or until golden brown. Remove from oven, flip loaf over, and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until cheese is golden brown.

Allow to cool, cut and serve with spaghetti squash and some marinara dipping sauce.

And there you have your healthier, paleo and gluten free spaghetti and cheese sticks. It is so good even my little one year old loved it. Give it a try this week and let me know what you think.

Don't forget to pin so you have the recipe on file. 

Happy Monday and Happy December!

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