So I made another delicious lean and green recipe that is Medifast-compliant. I have had a craving for spaghetti and heard about spaghetti squash from my diet coach. I realized I had to try it. She suggested combining a spaghetti squash with meatless meatballs and some tomatoes. Having no recipe to go by, it was time to be creative.
I also learned I could eat cheese as part of the Medifast diet, as long as it contained less than 6 grams of fat per ounce. I was pumped. I had no idea that cheese was allowed, but as long as it is low-fat enough, it can count as a protein.
I used one large spagehtti squash, two cans of chopped tomatoes with basil and oregano (Italian style), one package of low-fat shredded cheese, and one package of meatless meatballs from the frozen vegetarian section. I also had olive oil, salt, and pepper on hand, as I always do.
First, you have to figure our your proportions. For the green, you get 3 servings. In most cases, you can have 1 1/2 cups of any of the allowed vegetables (the exception is most lettuces, which are a cup a serving instead of half a cup. I decided to use a cup of spaghetti squash and 1/2 a cup of tomatoes to get my allowed green option.
Now for the protein. A full serving of protein would be 12 meatless meatballs. However, since I wanted to use cheese I had to make a choice. With 3-6 grams of fat per ounce, a serving of protein would be 1 cup of shredded cheese. I decided to use 9 meatless meatballs and 1/4 a cup of cheese. But you can play around with the proportions any way you like. I could have used 6 meatballs and 1/2 a cup of cheese. You just have to decide what kind of combination you want.
Now it was time to cook. I began by roasting the spaghetti squash. This turned out to be very simple. The hardest part was just cutting through the spaghetti squash. I used these directions to cook my spaghetti squash. After cutting the squash in half, you want to scoop out the seeds and rind in the very center. Then brush a little olive oil on both sides and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. I used a pepper grinder and kosher salt. Turn the spaghetti squash cut sides down and roast at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes.
I took the squash out of the oven and held it with tongs while using a fork to rake the spaghetti squash out into strands. It was so easy and simple. It really does look like spaghetti. It smells more like a pumpkin than pasta, but tastewise it is very good.
I then measured out a cup of spaghetti squash and drizzled it with a little more olive oil. Remember, you can have up to two teaspoons of olive oil a day, so measure measure measure!
While the squash was roasting I cooked the meatless meatballs on the skillet. I had to cut them in half to get the frozen insides cooked.
I covered the squash with half a cup of tomatoes from the can, drained. I added the meatless meatballs and covered it all with my measured amount of low-fat shredded cheese. It was very good.
Of course it tastes different than regular spaghetti, but it’s healthy, diet-compliant, and you get a lot of food. All together, this only took about 45 minutes to cook, and that is including waiting for the spaghetti squash to roast.
I can’t believe this is me getting creative in the kitchen. This diet is bringing out parts of me that have never been explored. If you have great Medifast lean and green recipes, please share them with me.