(Originally published December 1, 2013)

Now that you’re recovering from your post-Thanksgiving coma you’re thinking healthy, right? Maybe it’s time to knock back a few more veggies and clean out your system after that oh-so-pleasant but guilt-inducing overdose of carbs, fat, and sugar also known as Thanksgiving?

This simple one-skillet meal combines a few different veggies with a flavorful protein, with spaghetti squash standing in for higher-calorie pasta. You can make this dish exactly as Leslie does in the video and the recipe below, and you’ll love it. Or you can riff on this basic recipe any way you’d like—try it with ground turkey, pork, or beef; Italian sausage or breakfast sausage; or go meatless with tempeh or tofu. You could probably even dice in some leftover turkey, unless the thought of one more turkey dish is starting to curl your toes.

You can use any kind of leafy green veggie you can find, at least the non-lettuce greens like kale, Swiss chard, collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, and spinach. You can experiment with the fresh or dried herbs of your choice.

And you can turn it into a very quick after-work meal by roasting a spaghetti squash or two over the weekend and having it ready to toss into this dish after work. Though this is Leslie’s recipe, I, too am a fan of the one-dish skillet with a spaghetti squash (or zucchini noodle, or cauliflower rice) base, especially when I’m paying the proper attention to what I eat, or am maintaining a Paleo lifestyle. If you want more ideas like this one, all gluten-free and Paleo-compliant, I’d recommend Melissa Joulwan’s wonderful cookbook Well Fed: Paleo Recipes for People Who Love to Eat.

And check back here at the MO Deep Roots web site, because Leslie will be contributing more recipes and musings in the coming months. To find out more about Leslie and her journey into farm life, check out this profile.

Spaghetti Squash Skillet with Kale and Sausage

An easy, tasty, one-dish meal that happens to be gluten-free, low-carb, and Paleo-friendly too.

Ingredients

1 spaghetti squash
1 bundle of kale, of any variety, anywhere from 1/2 to 1 pound (or substitute Swiss chard, collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, spinach, etc.)
1 onion, medium (any type of onion, or even shallot, will work)
1 pound bulk sausage (breakfast-type or Italian sausage, pork or turkey)
Garlic, 3 large cloves
Parmesan cheese (about a quarter cup after grated, or to taste)
Oregano, about a tablespoon fresh (can substitute other fresh herbs you might have on hand, or a teaspoon or so of dried oregano)
Olive oil, 4 tablespoons

Instructions

Note: As stated above, this dish is super quick to prepare once you’ve roasted the spaghetti squash, and you can cook the squash up to a few days in advance if you want to be able to throw this meal together in just 15 or 20 minutes. I like to bake a squash on the weekend and store it whole—or rather, in halves—in the fridge so I can whip up a meal like this after a busy day, when I want something quick and healthy.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
To prepare the squash for roasting, slice about an inch off of both ends, using a large, sharp knife. Leslie slices both ends off of the squash before cutting it down the middle. Then stand the squash on a cut side, vertically, and slice it down the middle.
Scrape out the seeds and the pulp in the seed cavity with a spoon and throw it into your compost bucket.
Drizzle 2 of the tablespoons of olive oil over a cookie sheet or roasting pan, and put the squash halves cut side down on the pan, making sure to coat the cut surface with the olive oil to avoid sticking. Give the surface of each squash half a few pokes with a fork so the steam will be released as the squash cooks. Place the pan in the heated oven and roast for 35 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the squash, or until the squash is tender.
Wash the kale well and allow to drip dry. If using curly kale, or any variety with a tough inner stem, pull or cut the leaves from the stem. You can skip that step with very young and tender kale, or with tender-leaved varieties like lacinato (or dinosaur) kale. Chop the kale roughly and set aside.
Peel and dice the onion, then peel and mince the fresh garlic. If using fresh oregano, mince that too.
Once you’ve taken out a heavy skillet and opened up your pound of sausage, prep is complete, so feel free to take a break to check your email or get your kids started on their homework—or maybe just take a few deep breaths—until your spaghetti squash is fully cooked.
Once the squash is tender, remove it from the oven and allow to rest until it’s cool enough to handle. (If you’ve baked your squash in advance, you can remove it from the fridge now.)
Now it’s time to start heating up your skillet over medium heat and get out a decent-sized bowl, into which your spaghetti squash will soon go. Grab a half and start scraping the squash from the skin with a fork. It will come out in thin pasta-like strands—thus the name—and every bit of the flesh down to the outer skin is edible, so keep at it until you’ve scraped off every savory morsel. You’ll end up with a bowl of golden spaghetti-like squash, a happy, healthy, dare I say yummy alternative to the real deal—lower in calories and carbs, gluten- and grain-free, and A-OK for anyone following the Paleo lifestyle.
Now that your veggies are all prepped and ready, and your pan is hot, you’re minutes away from dinner. Swirl a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in your skillet and let it warm up, then add your chopped onions. Let them cook, stirring now and then, until they’re translucent—just 2 or 3 minutes. Add the garlic, being sure to keep stirring since it can burn easily. After about 30 seconds, add the chopped greens and stir in well. Keep cooking over medium heat for a couple of minutes, or until the greens cook down to about half their original volume.
Add the sausage to the pan and break it up with a wooden spoon, so it fills the skillet uniformly. At this point, allow the sausage to cook undisturbed for a few minutes so it has a chance to brown, which will enhance the flavor of the dish. Stir again and break up the sausage, then allow to cook undisturbed for another two or three minutes, or until the sausage is fully cooked and somewhat browned. The greens will have reduced to a fraction of their original bulk, and should be nicely tender.
Now it’s time to add the spaghetti squash to the pan, stirring to combine all ingredients. Throw in some salt and pepper—start with a half teaspoon of salt, a little less pepper, and add more to taste. Grate in some Parmesan cheese, or use pre-grated if that’s easier. Toss in the oregano, and stir it all up one more time. Take a taste, and adjust the seasonings as needed. Time to eat!

What’s your favorite way to cook spaghetti squash? Let us know in the comments!