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Spaghetti Squash Pasta with Sweet Potato Sauce

Course: Main Course, Stuff in a Bowl

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Servings: 2

Author: Brewing Happiness

Need a healthy weeknight dinner? This Mushroom & Chicken Spaghetti Squash Pasta with Sweet Potato Sauce is the perfect solution!

Ingredients

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1 heaping cup rotisserie chicken, chopped
• 1 heaping cup baby bella mushrooms, quartered
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil

For the Sweet Potato Sauce:

• 1 13.5 oz can light coconut milk
• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup vegan buttery spread (sub butter)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 8-10 sage leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Cut your spaghetti squash in half, and place cut side down into a baking sheet or pan. Fill the bottom of the pan up with water, just enough to cover. Bake for 45-50 minutes.
3. While the squash is baking, poke holes in your sweet potatoes with a fork and wrap them in a paper towel. Microwave on high for 10-12 minutes, until soft throughout. Once the potatoes are cool enough, peel off the skin and add the potatoes to a high speed blender.
4. Add your coconut milk and nutritional yeast to the blender, and blend on high until smooth.
5. In a small pan heat your vegan buttery spread over medium heat. Once the butter is melted and begins to bubble, add in your minced garlic and sage leaves to the pan. Take the butter off the heat when it turns slightly brown and begins to smell nutty.
6. CAREFULLY pour your browned butter, garlic and sage into your blender. (Warning: it will bubble and hiss a bit.) Add 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to the blender as well. Blend until smooth.
7. Heat a pan over medium-low heat with 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add your mushrooms and pine nuts. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.
8. Add in chicken to the pan and season with dried oregano, basil, and a dash of salt and pepper. Stir for another 2 minutes.
9. When your spaghetti squash is done, use a fork to scrape out the insides into stringy pasta. Transfer squash noodles to a large bowl, and pour about 1 cup of your sweet potato sauce over the pasta. Toss until well coated.
10. Divide the pasta into 2-3 bowls and top with the mushroom & chicken mixture.
11. EAT UP.

This was not the dish I planned. I had a different meal on the books for today, but some scheduling things had to get swapped so I was left with no plan and a fridge full of food for other recipes. I had to think and think fast. I knew I had a spaghetti squash (cause I’ve been VERY into squash these days), and I knew I had some sweet potatoes. 

So I did this weird thinking-pacing thing that I do around my kitchen: sitting down, then standing, then quickly opening my computer, then closing it, then checking Instagram, and finally an idea happens! SWEET POTATO SAUCE. Is it weird? Maybe. But will it be delicious? Definitely. 

I got in my kitchen and got to work, first things first – bake that spaghetti squash. Then I cooked my potatoes and thew them in a blender along with a bunch of other things I thought would go along and WHAM I had a meal. And not just an okay meal, a pretty dang good meal. And a meal that anyone can make! 

Yes, this is my job : creating recipes, thinking on the fly, knowing my way around a kitchen, and understanding flavor profiles. BUT this is also a skill anyone can acquire. All it takes is a *little* ingenuity and ZERO fear. I mean it. My biggest tip to people who are new to cooking is – stop being afraid to mess it up. I mess it up all the time. Hell, I’m currently on my 9th batch of failed “health-ified” brownies (I’ll conquer it one day, I promise.) But until I get it right, I let myself fail. 

Stop telling yourself you probably aren’t doing it right. Because, you probably are doing it right or if you aren’t it probably won’t matter that much. Cooking is a human art. Meaning, no one does it perfectly. We’re human for goodness sakes! Just give it the ole college try. I bet you will surprise yourself. 

Yes, you might burn the lasagna once or make bread that doesn’t rise. WHO CARES??? Eat the damn burnt lasagna or call postmates, it doesn’t matter. Next time you’ll know. You’ll have learned a lesson. And guess what? All of those lessons end up making you a master in the kitchen. You just have to be willing to try and fail occasionally. (Also, if you don’t know how to julienne something or slice a fennel bulb or whatever JUST GOOGLE IT FOR GOODNESS SAKES!)

There is nothing to fear in your kitchen. There are no monsters hiding causing your icing to congeal. You have control. And you are allowed to make a million mistakes before getting it right. So just get in your kitchen and try something – try anything. Just stop saying you can’t cook before you try. K love you, thanks, bye.