Whole30 Vegetarian: Day 11. Spaghetti Squash Puttanesca. (Vegan, Paleo).

Today marks day 11 of the Whole30 Vegetarian experiment. I haven't posted in a few days, so here's the update:

I'm feeling great. Energy levels are good, sleep is excellent, although PMS-ing on this diet is a bitch. Lunch-time hunger grumps are likely to lead to rage and even crying. Eating well, and often, is a must. It can be time consuming and all of my schedule has to account for when we are going to eat.

Breakfast usually looks like this:

Lunch is typically a salad or leftovers. Food is getting boring, I'll admit, but the diet isn't hard. I still don't miss anything that we've cut out, but I have to tell you that I've been having dreams about eating carbs. For reals. Like dreams about stuffing an entire package of rice cakes into my face and eating them like a crazy person. Which is weird, because awake, I don't want rice cakes. Hm.

Okay, so the good news. I know we aren't supposed to weigh ourselves during the program, but I totally did. And I'm down 6 lbs. I've been about 140 lbs for the last five years, and NOTHING I've done has gotten me below 140. Today I'm at 139. Booya! That feels pretty fucking amazing.  (I curse when I'm excited. Or when I'm mad. Or just in general).

So today's recipe is spaghetti squash. It's not the first time this veg has appeared on my blog, and I'm forever a fan of nature's spaghetti. The recipe takes 40 minutes, but really that's just "sit back and let it cook time." The prep will take about 10 minutes or so.

Ingredients:
1 spaghetti squash, halved
1 jar of crushed organic tomatoes
1 bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp sundried tomatoes
olive oil
1/2 tsp of basil
1/2 tsp of thyme
1/2 tsp each marjoram and oregano
1/2 cup of water
salt and pepper to taste
olives of your choice, chopped (I used salty green olives, but you can use black or kalamata olives).

Preheat your oven to 375. Place your squash halves on a cookie sheet, but don't put them in yet. Meanwhile, saute your onion, garlic and bell pepper in olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Then add in your spices and sundried tomatoes and cook another 1-2 minutes, until fragrant. Add in your tomatoes and water and set your heat to low, maintaining a gentle simmer.

Now place your squash in the oven and set the timer to 40 minutes. Your squash and sauce will each cook for the next 40 minutes, stir your sauce occasionally.

When finished, pull the squash out of the oven and cool slightly so you can handle it. Then with a fork, shred the insides into spaghetti, top with sauce and olives and enjoy! Makes great leftovers too!