{GF} Twice Baked Stuffed Southwestern Spaghetti Squash for #MeatlessMonday

This is a dish that I first made last week for a new mom. We've typically made this recipe, but it tastes best with sausage in it - and my friend only eats chicken. So, I did a bit of searching on Pinterest, and found this very appealing recipe.  It went over really well, so I decided to make it yesterday for #MeatlessMonday. A couple months ago, I cooked up some dry black beans in the crock pot for 24 hours and then put it in the freezer in 15-20 oz  portions. Each portion is about the size of a can of beans, but cost about $0.20 instead of $1-2.  Not bad. This summer, I grew spaghetti squash in my garden, and out of 1 $2 packet of seeds, I got 20 squash. Not bad. That makes this dish really, really cheap for me to make. And even if you buy canned beans instead of dry, and buy squash instead of grow it, a dish using beans for protein instead of meat is cheap - no matter how you look at it. And BONUS: this dish is naturally gluten / wheat free!

Spaghetti squash can be a little intimidating to prepare if you've never done it before, but I actually find it to be the most effortless of the squashes to prepare. 

• Find the flat spot on the squash and place that down on the cutting board. You don't want the squash to be rolling around while you're trying to cut it.  Take a Big Sharp knife and cut it in half length-wise. I find it helpful to pierce it in the middle and then cut from the middle to the bottom and then cut from the middle to the top.
• Using a large spoon, scoop out the innards as you would when carving a pumpkin.
• Drizzle some olive oil on the flesh of both halves, sprinkle with salt & pepper, and lay face down on a baking sheet.  I like to cover the baking sheet with parchment paper to make the cleanup a little easier.
• Bake on centre rack in the oven at 250 for ~2.5 hours. You can roast it at a higher temp for a shorter time, but I just like the way that it turns out slow cooked better.
• When the flesh of the squash is soft and cooked through, take a fork and scrape it from the sides - it will be stringy like spaghetti (hence the term spaghetti squash!)
• Don't discard the shell of the squash if you intend to do a 'twice baked' dish. Plus, serving the squash in the shell saves you from dirtying another dish! :)

This dish is spicier than I usually make - I had to serve it with some sort of dairy so that I could handle it (before you go thinking that it's REALLY HOT, be aware that I am pretty much the wimpiest person ever to approach spicy food. It's just not in my blood.). We didn't have sour cream or even greek yogurt in the fridge, so I served it with cottage cheese. And that was pretty yummy.

Twice Baked Stuffed Southwestern Spaghetti Squash
Adapted from recipe by The Comfort of Cooking
Serves 2 adults (& a couple of small children) as main course.
Ingredients

• 1 large spaghetti squash
• 1 tbsp olive oil or unflavoured coconut oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tbsp oregano
• 3/4 tbsp chili powder (I used Epicure Selections Chipoltle Chili powder)
• generous pinch of salt, & freshly ground pepper
• 1 can of black beans, drained & rinsed or 1.5-2 cups rehydrated cooked black beans
• 1 can of corn (I didn't have that last night, so I just doubled the amount of black beans.)
• 1/2 cup fresh ciantro, chopped, or 2 tbsp cilantro paste
• 1/4 cup lime juice or the juice of 2 limes
• 1/2 cup Mango Lime Salsa (I've only found this in the President's Choice line so far in our area)
• 3/4 cup grated cheddar sharp cheese
• A few tbsp of chopped fresh green onion

Directions

1. Prepare the squash as noted above in the post.
2. In a large frying pan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, sautee for 2-3 minutes. Stir in garlic, cumin, oregano, chili powder, salt, & pepper. Sautee for another minute or two. 
3. Stir in beans, corn, cilantro, & lime until well combined.  Add the 'spaghetti' from each half of the squash, and mix well. 
4. There won't be enough mixture to stuff both shells full, so I prefer to put most of the prepared mixture into one shell and then the small remaining amount in the other or in a small oven safe dish. 
5. Sprinkle with cheese. 
6. Bake in the oven for 20-40 minutes at 325. (Everything is cooked at this point, so it doesn't matter really how long it bakes for - until you're ready to have dinner!)
7. Sprinkle with chopped green onion or something fresh & green. This is not strictly necessary, but it helps make it look prettier. :) 

This post is linked to the Gluten Free Tuesday Linky. Check it out for some more great Gluten Free ideas!