Spaghetti Squash with Sausage, Spinach and Pesto

Spaghetti Squash with Sausage, Spinach and Pesto

      

Alright so I haven't sent out a recipe in a while and its because I have been using others people's recipes.  I ALWAYS give props to those recipes I make but this seems to be one I have been doing over and over the last few weeks.  I have had this on again off again relationship with spaghetti squash.  It was one of those things I FINALLY got it to taste good in, but it takes forever to cook in the oven.  

Recently (two months ago) I got a new job (HORRAY! see previous post) and so my cooking time has started to become MINIMAL, but I still am cooking just about everynight.  Also I wanted to get out of the spaghetti squash, meatballs and red sauce pattern and into something more satisfying.  So in our CSA share we had a Spaghetti Squash, pesto and some other stuff.  So I came up with an idea to try.  Another SUPER useful tool I have been using a lot of lately and I LOVE IT so much is my Instant Pot.  I have been using a lot of recipes from #nomnompaleo and #Pressureluckcooking.  Those two are where I am hanging out a lot lately.  SO to give credit where credit is due. I LOVE this super easy way to make spaghetti squash from Nom Nom Paleo (here).

           

So I took my Spaghetti Squash, cut it in half the short way and put it in the Instant Pot on the TRIVET with a cup of water.  I sealed it and pressed MANUAL and set it for 15 min,  of course it will take a few min to get to pressure. Sometimes I am in a hurray and do a quick release when the timer goes off. Today I let it go for a few min, did a quick release and took them out to cool down.

            

After they cooled I peeled them and you can see al the little strings.

WHILE the squash in cooking I cooked up some Mild Italian sausage in a pan, used a slotted spoon to take it out and put it on paper towels. Now I kept that grease and drippings in the pan to saute some greens I had lying around. I also set those aside when they were cooked.

                                         So after the sausage and the spinach are cooked I put the cooked squash in the pan and just break it up a bit. Spread it around 

the pan and make sure the strands are separated. This has been a mistake I have been making.  I kind of just throw it in the pan and notice it just sticks together. I then layered on the spinach and the sausage and made sure everything was all incorporated nicely.

  

After the mixing I added some homemade Pesto that Jeremy had whipped up (it's basil, walnuts, garlic, parm and olive oil).  It's really good and SMELLS SO GOOD after its all made.

 

Can't you just smell the basil! This is so yummy!  I give it all a good stir and the smells it makes are just wonderful.  It takes me less then and hour to do all of this!

YUM! Enjoy!

1 - 2lb (or more or less) Spaghetti Squash cut short way and scooped

1 container (it was about 1.5 cups) of Pesto (homemade is best, but store bought is fine)

1 lb of Mild Italian sausage 

2 cups of greens (spinach, kale, collard, mixure)

Olive oil 

salt

pepper

Place the trivet on the bottom of the instant pot and add a cup or so of water and place the cut spaghetti squash on the trivet, set the instant pot to Manual 15 min. 

While the squash is cooking, in a pan over medium heat with Olive oil add the sausage and break it up.  I like to do little ball shapes but if you want bigger or small pieces do that.  Once the sausage is brown use a slotted spoon to put it on a paper towel lined plate.  In the same pan cook the green down and place in a bowl when finished. Once the squash has finished and is cooled and peeled ad it to the SAME pan and spread it out a little,  move it around, add the spinach and sausage.  Make sure its all in there and there aren't big clumps of spaghetti squash.  Mix in the pesto with the pan at low and give it a few good stirs. Add salt and pepper as needed! Enjoy!