Pregnancy Cravings & Baked Spaghetti Squash

I never had any weird cravings while I was pregnant. In fact, any cravings I did have were honestly not even that strong, and I'm kind of sad about that. I mean, you've heard of the women craving gasoline and dirt, right? Well that wasn't me. Not even pickles. Dang. I'd say my biggest craving was Braum's frozen yogurt which my husband happily catered to multiple times a week. Somewhere my midwife is hanging her head in shame. ;) 

Wait! I just remembered that ice cream is the oldest craving in the book! I feel very accomplished now. 

Anyways, I did love myself some yellow and orange fruits and veggies, which I've mentioned here before. Carrots, yellow peppers, bananas, sweet potatoes, and squash. One uneventful September night I had a craving for spaghetti squash. I love that it’s healthy and substitutes pasta so well, and come on, it's down right delicious. I literally threw this together with what I could find in my fridge. My sweet (and hungry) husband approved and it was my first recipe I ever created and wrote down! 

This recipe is NOT dairy free BUT I made it the other night without any cheese or heavy cream and it came out just as good. For any of my non-dairy friends out there, I'll have the alternatives listed throughout the recipe for you. 

Serves: 2 with leftovers

Ingredients:

Olive oil

4-5 chicken thighs

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch of asparagus

1 Lemon

1 cup heavy cream (1 can full fat coconut milk if dairy free)

8 oz. fresh mozzarella (omit if dairy free)

Parmesan (omit if dairy free)

1 spaghetti squash

Preheat oven to 350 f

Cut your spaghetti squash in half vertically and scoop out all of the seeds. Drizzle the inside with olive oil and a splash of water and place cut side down on a baking sheet lined with foil. Make sure to do this fast so that water doesn't go splashing everywhere. The reason for the water is to help steam the squash from the inside. Rub olive oil on the outer skin of the squash as well to help it steam all the way through. Bake for 45 minutes.

Rinse chicken, pat dry and season with salt and pepper. Cook chicken in a large pan over a couple glugs of olive oil on medium high heat. Cook until golden brown on each side and cooked most of the way through, about 5-7 minutes on each side. Remove chicken from pan and cut into bite size pieces. Your pan will have all the beautiful bits of flavor from the chicken left over.... don’t clean it out! Add another drizzle of olive oil and sauté onions and garlic on medium low heat until golden and soft. Sprinkle some salt and pepper over to flavor and encourage the onions to sweat down. 

Snap ends off of asparagus and give them a rough chop, add them to your pan and continue to cook for about 10 more minutes. Squeeze the juice from half a lemon and add your heavy cream (or half a can of coconut milk) to finish off this velvety goodness, letting it bubble up for a few minutes so the flavors meld together.

riff -- You could also add cherry tomatoes to the mix, cut in half – just a thought to bring more color to this dish. 

Remove the squash from the oven and break up the “spaghetti” a bit with a fork. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and pour on the creamy onion and asparagus mixture. Add chicken and all the juices that have run out while it’s been sitting. Cut up some fresh mozzarella and place on top to your liking. Grate a generous portion of Parmesan to finish it off. (Dairy free friends, pour a little bit more coconut milk over the top)

Looks a little strange, but people, it's amazing!!

Back in the oven it goes for another 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is fully melted.

This serves a generous portion, so it'd be a great dish to save part of for lunch the next day!  Did you have any weird or textbook pregnancy cravings?

For more, follow me over on bloglovin'