Spaghetti Squash Salad

I love clean food, by clean I mean most of what’s on the plate is how it came from the Earth. Similar clean dish I make is from butternut squash – Butternut Squash Apple Casserole I’ll be making some pretty soon, there are at least 30 of them in the garden this year.

I had several spaghetti squashes sitting in the kitchen, one in particular was interesting, I forget how it was called, but it was suppose to be orange inside, which it wasn’t and I was a bit disappointed there, but I got over it.. I decided to try something new, I always make the same dish –Herbed Spaghetti Squash over and over, though I love it I felt the need to explore unknown and I made a delicious and refreshing salad.

 

 

 

3 cups cooked spaghetti squash

2cups cubed tomatoes, or use cherry tomatoes cut in half

1small onion, finely chopped

1/2cup chopped fresh pepper

 

1cup string beans(steamed)

 one small apple, sliced thinly, lightly sauteed with 1/2tsp olive oil

1tbl almonds, chopped

 

3 tbl olive oil

3tbl rice wine vinegar

 

1tsp honey

 2  garlic cloves, chopped /pressed

1tsp dry chives

1tsp dry oregano

1tsp dry basil

topping cheese-optional, it could be feta cheese, gouda, mozzarella, parmesan

1/8tsp  to 1/4tsp salt, pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375F

Cut the squash in half lengthwise and place, cut side down, in a baking dish. Add enough water to come 1/2-inch up the sides of the baking dish and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes, until the squash is easily pierced with a fork or a knife. Turn squash over and cover with foil again and continue to cook another 15 minutes, until very tender. Remove from the oven, uncover, and allow to cool slightly. Using a spoon, remove the seeds and discard. Using a fork, gently pull the strands of squash away from the peel and place the squash strands into a mixing bowl, set aside.

 

Combine dressing ingredients and set aside.

In a medium size bowl combine all the fillings, add the dressing and toss gently around. Chill for 20 minutes, and serve.