Spaghetti Squash Casserole

I discovered this adorable tiny little farm stand out in the country when I went to pick  up the last of the chickens from the now closed Soul Food Farms.  

Can we please have a moment of silence?  

I had a nice conversation with the farmer, Michael, and got a little star struck when I found out he sells his produce to Alice Waters at Chez Panisse. The little stand is set up on the honor system complete with a scale and a money jar. Love love love! I was so excited to find that they sold organic winter squashes for a really good price. Usually organic anything is expensive, so I had to stock up and walked away with 3 giant spaghetti squashes.

I, like so many other people, have a bad habit of buying winter squashes and letting them sit on the counter until the bottom rots out.  I love them, but they can be time consuming.  I do not have the patience to cook a squash for an hour after I get home from a 12 hour work day.  But not this time.  I immediately cooked it up, ON THE WEEKEND, using my friend's tutorial as a guide.  It came out perfectly and we ate it that night with spaghetti sauce.  

But I still had a ton of squash leftover and no sauce left.  What to do, what to do.  

Normally, I would just put butter and parmesan cheese on the top, but the pesky dairy allergy is keeping that from happening.  Booooo.  

So I searched on all my favorite cooking websites and blogs and finally came across this yummy sounding Spaghetti Squash Casserole from Peas and Thank You.  Doesn't it look mouthwatering? 

I changed it up a bit to fit our tastes and added some organic, grass fed and finished hamburger because it just sounded good.  It was so yummy and made a huge dish.  I made this on the weekend, covered and refrigerated it and then cooked it during the middle of the week.  The leftovers were even better, and I portioned out half of it into single servings and froze them in microwaveable containers for work lunches.  

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Yum!  I want to make this every week!!!

1 large organic spaghetti squash

Coconut oil

1lb organic, grass fed and finished hamburger

1lb sliced mushrooms

15-16 oz tomato sauce (home canned or organic brand)

1/4 c chopped fresh parsley

8oz non-dairy cream cheese (organic cream cheese if not dairy-free) 

1/4 c. nutritional yeast (Parmesan cheese if not dairy-free) 

2 c. non-dairy shredded mozzarella cheese (organic mozzarella if not dairy-free) 

Prepare spaghetti squash and set aside.  

Preheat oven to 350*.  Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add coconut oil and melt.  Add hamburger and cook completely and crumble.  Remove hamburger from pan to a bowl and set aside. In the same skillet, add a little bit more coconut oil, if necessary, and cook the mushrooms until they are completely cooked but not yet beginning to caramelize.  Add the hamburger back to the pan with the mushrooms.  Add the tomato sauce, non-dairy cream cheese, and nutritional yeast.  Cook until the cream cheese has melted down and the sauce is warmed throughly.  Turn off heat.  Mix in spaghetti squash and parsley.  Transfer to a large oven safe baking dish (like a 9x13) that has been greased.  Top with mozzarella cheese.  Bake uncovered for 30 minutes until cheese is melted and dish is bubbling in the middle.  Makes 6-8 servings.  

If you are making this ahead of time, do not bake.  Just cover and put in the fridge or freezer.  If frozen, thaw overnight in the fridge.  Then bake for about 45-60 minutes until bubbling in the middle.