spaghetti squash stir fry

we love chinese, thai, and laotian cuisine at casa de hein. we often order take-out from our favorite local restaurants, but we were craving a spicy stir fry tonight and with the midwestern snowstorm that we had today we figured we would cook at home tonight. plus, what's better than making a meal with fresh organic produce and other ingredients that you know are better for you than the unhealthy oils and fats that restaurants use? one of our favorite things to do is cook together, so spending quality time with my man was also a plus. ;)

we have been trying to eat healthier lately and reduce our gluten intake since my mister has been reading wheat belly by dr. william davis. {fun fact: we met him two weekends ago at the well expo in madison & he signed R's book.} he bought the book because he heard that cutting wheat from his diet could help his eczema. he gets horrible eczema and it is exacerbated by the dry winter weather, so he is always willing to try something that touts an eczema fix. he has been pleasantly surprised at the results he is seeing as his skin has improved immensely.

since we no longer eat gluten we have to find other ways to create those meals that often contain wheat. we used to make our spicy stir fry with noodles, but tonight we decided to try spaghetti squash. the only disappointment i have is that we haven't tried this sooner because it was SO much better than noodles and left us feeling completely satisfied. both my mister and i said that we will only make our stir fry with spaghetti squash from here on out. no need to add grains if we don't have to. spaghetti squash is the way to go, folks!

the one downfall to this meal is that it is a bit time consuming to make since you need to roast the spaghetti squash. don't fret though, this is super easy to do. cut squash in half, remove the guts, brush each half with olive oil, bake face down at 375 for 40-45 minutes. if you can easily pierce the skin with a fork, it's done. easy peasy.

this is our new favorite creation. i'll probably make it again within the next few days because yes, it was that good. also, two man approved meals in a row, i'm on a roll!

ingredients:

• two organic chicken breasts
• 2 tablespoons reduced sodium tamari {gluten free soy sauce}
• cracked black pepper
• coconut oil {i do all the sauteing with this}
• 3 cage free eggs
• 4 organic carrots, sliced
• 2 organic leeks, sliced {just the white parts}
• 10 sugar snap peas, sliced
• 3 organic green onions {just the green parts}
• 3 inch piece of ginger, peeled sliced and diced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• handful of bean sprouts
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup tamari
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons red hot pepper flakes
• 1/2 roasted spaghetti squash

directions:

1. roast spaghetti squash as you are preparing the rest of the dish.

2. cut chicken breasts into bite size pieces. place in a bowl with 2 tablespoons tamari. i make sure that the chicken is coated in tamari {see photo below} so you might need a little more than 2 tablespoons depending on the size of your chicken breasts. i also sprinkle with cracked black pepper. put in the refrigerator while you chop the veggies.

3. chop carrots, leeks, sugar snap peas, and green onions. place in a bowl.

4. melt 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil in a large hot skillet. remove chicken from refrigerator and cook over high heat until done. remove from pan and set aside.

5. add a small amount of coconut oil to the pan and cook the scrambled eggs until just done and set aside.

6. chop the fresh ginger into tiny pieces and press the garlic cloves through a press. we love, love, love garlic and ginger, i'm talking can't get enough of it, so if these aren't your favorite flavors, i wouldn't add quite as much as we did.

7. melt 1 tablespoon of coconut oil in the skillet. toss in bowl of chopped veggies and a handful of bean sprouts {bean sprouts not pictured}. add the ginger and garlic. stir fry for about 3 minutes until the veggies are cooked. we don't like soggy veggies so we don't cook them for more than 3 minutes.

8. using a fork, scrape the 1/2 spaghetti squash out of its skin and add to the stir fry. make sure you get all the squash out. when you are finished you should only have the skin with no squash left inside. mix well. every time i make spaghetti squash i am always amazed at how it really does look like spaghetti!

9. add the chicken and eggs to the stir fry. mix well.

10. add 1/4 cup rice vinegar {little secret: at the last minute i realized we didn't have rice vinegar, so instead i took a little less than 1/4 cup of white vinegar and mixed it with 3 tablespoons water and 1.5 tablespoons of truvia}, 1/4 cup tamari, 2 tablespoons sesame oil, and 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes. we really like it spicy, so i usually add more than 2 teaspoons and i always add extra to my personal bowl.

 

11. mix well and stir fry for 3 minutes. remove pan from heat, portion into bowls and devour this super healthy spaghetti squash stir fry. that's what we did. oh, and we both can't wait until lunch tomorrow to indulge once again as we had plenty of leftovers for 4 more meals. i would say this recipe could serve up to 6.

my mister asked that this stir fry be added to our weekly rotation. and quite honestly, it would be hard for me to disagree because i'm sure i'll crave this weekly. it was so delicious!

happy cooking! :)