Unless your running a marathon the next day, piling up on the pasta is not such a great idea if you want to be slim and trim. Switching to whole wheat spaghetti will give you some extra fiber but still almost a days worth of carbs in one meal.  But what if I told you that there is an awesome substitute for spaghetti that looks the same, and comes pretty close to taste and texture as well…

Say hello to the Spaghetti Squash. Rightly named, as the flesh of this squash closely resembles spaghetti noodles when cooked and scraped out using a simple fork.  It’s loaded with natural fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants as well as omega 3 fatty acids.

Unfortunately this time of year, the popular other squash, the Pumpkin gets all the press during Halloween. Not a slouch in nutrition itself as pumpkin seeds make an awesome heart healthy snack. But local Farmer’s Markets are bursting with the fall harvest so it’s a great time to try to new fresh vegetables and making vegetable spaghetti seems like the perfect fit food.

Armed with my favorite healthy cookbook, Gourmet Nutrition, I made Spaghetti Squash for the first time the other day and was super impressed with how easy it was to make and how close it was to eating real pasta.

Here’s the rundown straight from the Gourmet Nutrition Cookbook.

Ingredients

4 cups spaghetti squash

1 tablespoon coconut oil or butter (melted)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Olive oil cooking spray

12 oz (340g) ground sirloin or extra lean ground beef

1 cup onion (small diced)

2 cups tomato sauce

1/4 cup cashews (crushed)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese (grated)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cut squash in half and clean out the centre and seeds. Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with oil or butter. Season with salt, pepper, and cinnamon and then place in the oven.

Bake squash for 45 minutes or until squash is tender enough to stick a fork into it with minimal resistance. Remove from oven and allow to cool a little.

While the squash is baking, preheat a non-stick frying pan on medium heat, lightly coat with spray and add the ground sirloin. Sauté the sirloin in batches if necessary, until lightly browned and cooked all the way through. Add onions and sauté for 2 minutes more.

Remove from heat, add in the tomato sauce and cashews, and set aside.

Once squash has cooled a little, scoop the flesh out of the skin with a spoon, measure and add it to the meat sauce. Next, reheat in the frying pan on medium until warm.

Garnish with the parmesan.

Get more great easy to make healthy recipes like this from The Gourmet Nutrition Cookbook.

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Here is a post-Thanksgiving recipe for Tasty Turkey Soup that was so easy even a turkey can do it!

Tasty Thanksgiving Turkey Soup

Ingredients:

2 cups turkey light meat, skinless, cooked and cubed
3 cups water
1/2 cup celery, sliced
10 ounces frozen mixed vegetables
1 carton of natural chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup whole wheat macaroni, uncooked

Directions:
In a quart 4-quart saucepan, combine turkey, water, celery, vegetables, broth, poultry seasoning, and black pepper. Cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a full boil. Add macaroni and reduced heat to low. Cover and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until macaroni is tender.

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After having a crockpot beef roast for dinner the day before I had some cold roast beef leftovers that I thought could use a bit of spicing up. Even though I do enjoy going primal sometimes and eating leftover roast beef cold…

I had a few whole wheat hamburger buns laying around as well so I decided to put them to use for this guy’s gourmet version of a grilled cheese sandwich.

Meet the Garlic Grilled Beef and Cheese Sandwich

1 clove of chopped garlic
1 tsp of parsley
1/4 cup of unsalted butter

2 large whole wheat kaiser rolls
2 tbsp of bbq sauce
4 slices of aged cheddar cheese
6 oz of thinly sliced leftover roast beef

In a small bowl mix garlic, parsley and butter together and melt in microwave for 30 secs.

Butter outside of rolls (tops and bottoms) with basting brush

Spread 1tbsp of bbq sauce on inside of each bun

Place 2 bottoms butter-side down in skillet on medium heat

Add 2 slices of  cheddar and roast beef to each bun in skillet

Place top rolls on sandwiches and cook 5-10 minutes or until golden brown

Carefully turn sandwiches over with spatula or tongs and cook for additional 5-7 minutes until golden brown and cheese is melted.

Remove from pan and enjoy with some spicy Peperoncini peppers on the side.

So the next time you want a Roast Beef and Cheddar Sandwich for lunch don’t think Arby’s!  Think homemade REAL food with the Grilled Garlic Roast and Cheedar from the Dad Fitness Workout and Nutrition System.

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Had a hot and sticky Dad Fitness workout at the gym today after working 2 nightshifts and only 4 hours sleep this morning.

I was soaked by the end of this one and finished in under an hour.

Barbell Deadlifts

Bulgarian Split Squats

Pullups

Seated Cable Rows

Dumbbell Curls

Preacher Curls

Seated Calf Raise

2 sets each, 4-8 reps

To refuel you and your family after a busy week, here is a tasty and nutritious recipe that is good for Friday night dinner and even better the next day for lunch!

Classic Vegetarian Lasagne

What You’ll Need

12 whole wheat Lasagne Noodles
1 onion, finely diced 1
1 red pepper, finely diced 1
1-2 tbsp olive oil 15-30 mL
6.5 oz spinach, trimmed and chopped 185 g
1 jar (700 mL) Garden Select 6 Vegetable Recipe Diced Tomatoes & Basil Pasta Sauce 1 jar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 lb ricotta or cottage cheese 500 g
1 cup crumbled feta cheese 250 mL
Frailty ipod
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese 75 mL
1 egg, beaten 1
1-1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese 300 mL
Cook noodles according to package directions.

Sauté onion and pepper in oil until tender. Add spinach; cook until just wilted. Stir in pasta sauce and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Mix together ricotta, feta, Parmesan cheeses and egg.

In 13 x 9-inch (3 L) baking dish, layer ¼ of the pasta sauce. Top with three lasagne noodles, ¼ sauce and three more noodles. Spread cheese mixture over noodles. Top with three more noodles, ¼ sauce, remaining noodles and ¼ sauce. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over top.

Cover and bake in preheated 350ºF (180ºC) oven for 45-50 minutes or until cooked through. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

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Today I was planning on heading to the gym for one last workout before I take a week off from my workout routine.

But I seem to have caught a head cold the last few days and I am not really feeling 100%, sniff..sniff…cough..cough.. Seeing as my last workout was Thursday I won’t head back to the gym until this Thursday.

Every 8 weeks I try to take a recovery week off from my intense workouts but I have now gone over 10 weeks without a break and I guess I am starting to wear myself down.

I will still try and remain active during this week but won’t be doing my intense Dad Fitness weight training workouts.

I am not the only one in our house feeling under the weather as our 9 month old daughter has it as well. I feel bad for her as she keeps waking herself up during the night coughing. But at that age they recommend that you give them nothing, and let it take its course.

She’s tough like her dad but we have a humidifier going in her room during the night to help her congestion.

Shirt reads: “There is Snowone Like Dad”

Despite us battling the sniffles we had our in-laws over for dinner last night and I made a delicious new recipe from the April issue of Men’s Health Magazine.

This turned out awesome as I even made the power side salad as well,
Arugula and Parmesan Salad

The only changes I made was I used Spring Mix instead of Arugula and garlic goat cheese instead of Gorgonzola as I could not find it at my local supermarket.

The whole meal was super easy to prepare and we all REALLY loved it. The pesto and garlic goat cheese gave it amazing flavor!

I upped the ingredients to make enough for 4 with a little leftovers.

Savory Seafood Penne

• 1 box of whole wheat penne pasta
• 2 bags of frozen cooked shrimp
• 1 small cub of garlic goat cheese crumbled
• 3 cups of baby spinach
• 2 tomatoes chopped
• 2 tsp walnuts chopped 3 tsp of ready made pesto

1. Defrost shrimp under running water for 5 mins.
2. Cook pasta according to directions.
3. Transfer pasta to large bowl, add shrimp, cheese, spinach, tomato, walnuts and pesto.
4. Stir well to combined ingredients.

Another healthy meal in minutes for you and your family that will fill you up without filling you out!

Bedazzled Sean Barker, CPT

Learn the “The Truth On Fat Loss, How To Finally Lose Your Beer Belly” in this FREE report from Sean Barker at www.dadfitness.com

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