Million Dollar Spaghetti Squash Casserole

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A couple of weeks ago, my husband decided he wanted to try the low-carb lifestyle.  We saw an old friend at a party and he talked him into it.  I call it a lifestyle, because it is different than a diet in that there are still so many things that you can eat and not feel hungry all the time.  I have been reading a lot, trying, modifying, and creating recipes and supporting him 100%.  I really enjoy all of this recipe work so it's fun for me, a little challenging at times, when I have to go to an additional store or order something online, but that's only because I have been doing some low-carb baking too.  This new low-carb lifestyle is very doable.  I don't know if we'll always follow it so strictly, even The Rock has cheat days, but for now it is something we are doing.

I have been mostly following this new low-carb lifestyle too and I already see a lot of benefits.  We are eating a larger amount and variety of vegetables and really enjoying them.  The biggest thing is we are not eating sugar!  It seems crazy to type that, my husband has always had a sweet tooth and I have always had a weakness for chocolate, but we haven't had sugary food in over two weeks and we feel fine.  I have made a few things with stevia or monk fruit, but that is it.  

I asked my husband a couple of days ago if he still had heartburn.  He always had heartburn before.  He even took proton pump inhibitors almost daily for it.  He stopped to think about it, then said it's been a couple of weeks since he had heartburn.  It's early to say if this new way of eating is why he hasn't had heartburn, but also very promising.  

Since we are going low-carb, I made this million dollar spaghetti casserole with spaghetti squash instead of spaghetti pasta.  It was amazing and I didn't even miss the pasta.  We devoured the entire pan (kids too) in a couple of days.  This is so yummy leftover!  

Spaghetti squash is so easy to prepare.  Simply poke holes in it with a fork microwave 7 minutes.  Flip it over.  Microwave another 7 minutes.  Slice in half, scoop out the seeds then scrape the inside out with a fork pulling the squash strands to make "spaghetti".  

When you buy pasta sauce if you are paying attention to carbs and/or sugar, look for sauce that says "no added sugar" and read the label for carb grams and sugar grams.  You can probably find something without added sugar if you look.  

Million Dollar Spaghetti Squash Casserole
Ingredients: 
1 large spaghetti squash
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 lb. ground pork sausage
​1/2 lb. ground venison or beef
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (25) oz. jar marinara sauce
8 oz. cream cheese*
1/2 cup sour cream or ricotta cheese*
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
3 cups shredded mozzarella or Italian style cheese

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Poke holes in the spaghetti squash with a fork then microwave 7 minutes.  Flip it over.  Microwave another 7 minutes.  Slice in half, scoop out the seeds then scrape the inside out with a fork pulling the squash strands to make "spaghetti".  Put in a bowl and toss with salt.  Drain any water if needed. 
3.  In a skillet brown meat, onion, and garlic. 
4.  In a bowl mix cream cheese, sour cream, 1 cup of the shredded cheese and Italian seasoning.  
5.  Add basil and marinara sauce to browned meat. 
​6.  Spray a 9 X 13 pan with olive oil (amazon link) or cooking spray.  
7.  Layer half the squash in the pan.
8.  Layer all of the cheese mixture.
9.  Layer half the meat sauce.
10.  Next, layer the second half of the spaghetti squash. 
11.  Layer the rest of the meat sauce.  
12.  Top with remaining shredded cheese. 
13.  Bake for 20 minutes until hot and bubbly.  


*If you would like to substitute ricotta cheese for some of the cream cheese and sour cream you can.  

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