Zesty Spaghetti Squash 'n' Cheese

Because mac ‘n’ cheese is so 90s. And because I’m eating spaghetti squash four days a week. After a while, you have to start getting creative. I’ve made guacamole spaghetti squash, brown sugar and cinnamon spaghetti squash and good old tomato and basil spaghetti squash. Just to name a few. At some point with any vegan recipe, you need to add a little cheese substitute and see how it turns out. In this case, it turned out well. I love that it has a little kick to it and it doesn’t taste too much like fake cheese poop. Or something. If you haven’t made spaghetti squash yet, be prepared to join the cool kids table at the cafeteria. Dinner just got real.

Ingredients:

• 1 spaghetti squash (2.5-3 lbs)
• 2 Tbsp Earth Balance or other vegan butter spread
• 1 Tbsp Tahini sauce (ground sesame seed sauce typically located near salad dressings and peanut butter)
• 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast (the flaky yellow stuff sold in bulk at Whole Foods)
• 1/2 Tbsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Heat the entire spaghetti squash in the microwave for 5 minutes to soften the skin. Allow the squash to cool and then slice it through the middle lengthwise. Remove the seeds inside just like removing pumpkin seeds from a pumpkin.

3. Place both sides of the squash in a lightly greased baking pan with the cut sides down. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

4. Use a fork to scrape the “strands” of spaghetti from each half of the squash.

5. Mix remaining ingredients in with the spaghetti squash and serve warm.