dairy-free

Spaghetti squash is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with. It’s incredibly healthy, low in carbs, delicious, and generally pretty easy to cook. It can also be swapped out in a lot of your favorite recipes, not just spaghetti!

I have topped spaghetti squash with everything from chicken enchiladas to beef stroganoff. But one of my favorite recipes is this spaghetti squash lasagna!

Now if you have never worked with spaghetti squash before you may be a little bit intimidated. I totally get it. I was right there with you once. Fortunately, my mom has been making spaghetti squash for years, way before it was cool, so I have learned a lot from her.

The hardest part, by far, is cutting the darn thing! It’s seriously a pain in the butt, but I have a couple recommendations to make it a bit easier.

Microwave the whole squash for 1 minute. This will soften the squash slightly, making it easier to cut.
Before cutting around the squash, cut off the stem. It will ensure you get to evenly sized halves.
Use a serrated knife which will help cut through the outer shell.
Don’t cut using a saw like motion. Cut by sticking the tip of the knife all the way through and then pressing down with the base of the knife. It may take a couple cuts to get all the way through.

Once the squash is split in half, I scrape out the seeds then drizzle the flesh with a little bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then off to the oven it goes!

There are of course other ways to cook a spaghetti squash, but when time is not really an issue, oven roasting them is my favorite! The flesh gets very soft, but also a bit caramelized, which makes it taste so much better.

After a few minutes in the oven, the squash is ready to become spaghetti. Its as easy as dragging a fork across the surface. The flesh should be soft so that this doesn’t not require a lot of effort. If it does, pop it back in the oven or microwave until it’s soft.

Ok, while the spaghetti squash was roasting, I worked on all the other components of the lasagna. First up, the meat sauce. I seasoned some ground beef with salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic. Then I added in some whole tomatoes, which I smashed down into a sauce.

The next component is the ricotta cheese. Or in this case, nut cheese. Did I mention this was Paleo?

Don’t worry, you won’t miss the cheese. Nut cheese is surprisingly delicious and super flavorful. I love it because you still get that salty, savory, creaminess you would get from normal cheese.

Nut cheese is also pretty easy to prepare. I basically blend up some soaked cashews with a bit of oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper until its just short of cashew butter. It should still have a bit of texture, but not chunky.

Finally, it’s time to assemble. I like to spread the nut cheese over the top of the spaghetti squash. You will probably pull up some of the noodles, but it’s okay – it doesn’t have to be pretty. I then top all of it with a generous helping of meat sauce.

Now if you wanted to be a rebel and use real cheese, this would be where you swap in the ricotta and top this off with some mozzarella cheese. It won’t be Paleo, but it will still be a heck of a lot more healthy than your classic lasagna.

After another quick bake in the oven so that all the components get nice friendly with one another, this Paleo spaghetti squash lasagna is ready to eat! Since everything was basically pre-portioned in the spaghetti squash itself, there is no messy cutting and serving of the lasagna. You know what I’m talking about.

So the first few bites of this spaghetti squash lasagna are good and all, but when you get into the center where all that nut cheese is, it gets really good. The creamy savory-ness of that nut cheese just rounds out the whole thing, making you forget that there really is no cheese in this entire dish!

Can you tell I love this recipe? That’s probably why I make it whenever I’m looking for something healthy, but comforting all at the same time!

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All you lactose-intolerant, Paleo, or just anti-dairy people out there, this recipe is for you! This coconut ice cream is made without a single drop of milk or cream. And even better, it has far less added sugar than a normal ice cream recipe. Bonus!

I, myself, have tried to cut out a lot of dairy from my diet after my Whole 30 experience. But that also means cutting out a lot of other wonderful foods, like cheese and ice cream (is life even worth living without cheese and ice cream?). To supplement, I have tried quite a few dairy free ice creams and ice cream recipes, but most of them are a weird consistency and the flavor seems very artificial.

I get it. It’s really hard to imitate that creaminess without actually using any cream. Fortunately, through some trial and error, I think I have come pretty close. The key is coconut cream!

I used both coconut milk and coconut cream, along with some vanilla and sugar, to make this ice cream. The natural flavor of the coconut milk and cream give this ice cream a noticeable, but not overpowering coconut flavor. Also, because coconut is naturally sweet, this recipe doesn’t need as much sugar as your average ice cream recipe. Score!

I started by bringing the coconut milk, coconut cream, sugar, and vanilla pod to a simmer in a medium sauce pan. I just wanted the sugar to dissolve and the vanilla flavor to permeate through the milk. I let the mixture cool completely on the counter, then put it in the fridge for a few hours to really help the flavors develop.

In the mean time, I chilled the work bowl of my ice cream maker. Once is was chilled, I poured the cream into the bowl and let the ice cream maker go to work. While I have never made ice cream the old fashioned way (save for that one time in Girl Scouts many moons ago), I imagine you could also use this same recipe with a manual ice cream maker.

Once it was all churned, I put it into my ice cream container (a loaf pan would also work) to harden even more in the freezer.

I let the ice cream sit in the freezer overnight so that it was nice and frozen the next day. Because it’s not quite as creamy as normal icing, I did have to leave it sitting on the counter for about 5 minutes to soften up before I could scoop it out.

After that, it is ready to eat! I enjoyed my first bowl of this coconut ice cream topped with some fresh berries and shredded coconut. It would also be good with chocolate chips, caramel sauce, or just on it’s own! Just remember, you really can taste that coconut, so choose your toppings wisely!

But most of all, enjoy it! I sure did! It was very creamy and rich, the flavor was perfect, and it really hit the spot on a hot Summer day. The best part was how I felt afterwards. My stomach wasn’t grumbling and upset at me for consuming all that dairy. It was definitely worth all the work just for that!

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Paleo Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

Dairy Free Coconut Ice Cream