#1,376: Twice-Baked Cheeseburger Spaghetti Squash (Paleo)

Obviously from the photo above, I did not "twice" bake my spaghetti squash since the cheese is not melted.  Let's be honest, I was hungry and didn't want to wait for it to melt/twice bake.  :)  It was SO good even without going back in the oven!  Although I did feel like this recipe was a little wet and watery, so maybe a second round in the oven would have been good for it.  LOL

I loved this for lunch and dinner for a couple of days and will definitely be making this again.  The original recipe suggests adding diced tomatoes or shredded lettuce on top to make it more "cheeseburger" like, but the lettuce was not appealing to me.  I did add some diced tomatoes into my mixture though so they were sort of in there.  And since this is a "cheeseburger"-ish recipe, I added a little bit of pickle relish.  It gave it a sweeter taste but it was good!  Next time instead of adding the lettuce on top, I'll probably add some shredded kale right into the mixture as well.  Yum, yum, yum!

1 spaghetti squash
1 pound ground beef (I used ground turkey)
6-8 oz bacon, cooked and diced
1 cup onion, diced
1 tsp coarse sea salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
I also added 1 tbsp or so of pickle relish and ½ can of diced tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Slice a 3-4 pound spaghetti squash lengthwise, remove the seeds and guts and lay cut-side down in a roasting pan with just shy of a quarter cup of water. Roast for 30-40 minutes, until the squash is tender and pulls away into strands easily but not so long that it gets mushy.

In a pan, cook the ground beef and onion over medium-high heat, breaking into small pieces as it cooks.  Add the bacon, salt, garlic powder, paprika, and black pepper.  I also added the pickle relish and diced tomatoes at this time.  Stir to combine and let simmer on low for about 5 minutes so the flavors start to blend. 

When you’re ready, harvest the squash strands and add to the ground beef mixture.  Gently but thoroughly toss the ground beef and squash strands together. Use a set of cooking tongs to heap the mixture back into the shells of the spaghetti squash.

If you are a dairy eater, add a little organic, grass-fed cheese at this step. If not, you can sprinkle on some nutritional yeast.  Return the squash boats back to the 375 degree oven, bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven and top with shredded iceberg lettuce and thick slices of fresh organic tomatoes!