Baked margarita spaghetti squash

Review by Lyndee:

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large roma tomato (chopped)

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh basil (I used dried)

¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Using a large knife, slice the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise.  Use a spoon to remove the seeds and center strings.  Drizzle the two halves with olive oil and sprinkle with the salt, pepper and garlic.  Place the squash, open side down on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.   Remove from the oven.  Check to see if the squash is soft and easily comes up with a fork into a spaghetti like texture.  If it’s too hard, bake for another 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven, scrape and fluff the stringy squash with a fork.  Leave the squash in the skin. Turn the oven to broil.  Add the tomatoes and basil into the squash.  Stir and top with mozzarella cheese.  Broil for 3-4 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.

This was really good.  Easy to make.  Healthy and gluten free.  I’m a big fan of spaghetti squash so it was fun to find a new way to enjoy it.  

Not your average grilled cheese BLT

Review by Lyndee:

2 slices French bread

1 slice cheese (I used American but any flavor you love would work)

4 pieces bacon (cooked)

1 slice of tomato

Butter one side of each piece of bread.  Set a piece butter side down in the pan.  Add half a piece of cheese, the bacon, tomato and then the other half of cheese and the top bread (butter side up).  Grill in the pan until golden brown and the cheese becomes melty. 

I had a hankering for a grilled cheese the other day. But I kind of wanted a BLT too.  And I had a tomato on the counter that needed to be used up.  When I went to look at our bread supply I realized we were out of sandwich bread so my choices were a hamburger bun or a loaf of French bread.  This is when I decided I was going to make a grilled blt, minus the lettuce because let’s be real, warm lettuce is gross.  This was amazing!! I actually moaned when I took the first bite. I instantly sent a picture to my sister bragging about the best grilled cheese, BLT, random sandwich I have ever made that can be made in under 10 minutes.  Winning! 

Mom’s Zesty Tomato Soup

Review by Jami: 

I love this soup so much, I usually make a double batch and freeze the leftovers. I prefer it spicy but feel free to adjust the amount of red pepper to your personal taste level. It doesn’t take much to give this soup zip, so start small if you’re not a fan, or do away with it completely.

The original recipe adds a slice of bread pulverized in the food processor, but I eliminated this step altogether as the soup is thick enough without the extra carbs.

½ onion, diced

Red pepper flakes

28 oz. can of whole tomato

1 tbl brown sugar

1 bay leaf

Olive oil

1 cup veggie broth

Saute onion until tender in olive oil with red pepper flakes and bay leaf in a soup pot. Add the can of whole tomatoes with juice (do not drain) and brown sugar. Cook briefly until warm and sugar is dissolved. Remove bay leaf.

Using a hand blender is the easiest way to blend ingredients, right there in the pot. Add another tbl of olive oil and the broth, blend until smooth.

At this point add spices to taste, I like some garlic and basil while Mom adds a tbl of brandy. I also like to add extra protein, as I often struggle to meet my daily recommendation. Unflavored protein is great because you can cook it into almost any dish, just blend well. In this case, I like some hemp seed protein which adds a little bit of a nutty flavor with a slightly chewy texture. This is all optional so please experiment and let us know the results. I would love to hear your personal recommendations.