The Anti-Pasta Bird's Nest

Hi everyone, this is my very first instructable and it was a lot of fun to create this delicious dish. I call it the anti-pasta because it's made with spaghetti squash although you are welcome to use traditional spaghetti noodles if you desire. Spaghetti squash is delicious (not to mention healthy) and easy to make so I would encourage you to try it.

Here are the ingredients for this dish:
1 spaghetti squash
2 lb of grounded chicken or 2 chicken breast chopped up
8 ounces of mushrooms (1 package) sliced thick
1 tomato chopped
1 medium onion chopped
4 cloves of garlic minced (separate 1 chopped clove from the others)
1can of olives sliced
1 half inch slice of cheddar cheese cut into 20 mini 1/2 inch cubed
Italian seasoning
your favorite canned or homemade spaghetti sauce
1 teaspoon of Knorr's wonton soup seasoning
sea salt
pepper
olive oil
parmesan cheese

(Some of the ingredients I used are shown in the pictures.)

Step 1: Cooking the Spaghetti Squash

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Using a sturdy large knife cut squash lengthwise.  Cut off the stem as well.
3. Disgard seeds and the stringy gut of the squash. 
4. Place squash halves facing up into baking pan.  
5. Put pan in oven for 45-60 minutes. To tell if the squash is ready fork the meat of the squash all the way to the skin.  Fork should insert and put out easily.

Step 2: Bird's Eggs Aka Stuffed Chicken Meatballs

1. Put 1 lb of grounded chicken, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and 1 chopped clove of garlic into bowl.
2. Mix well 1/2 tablespoon of Knorr’ seasoning with 1 tablespoon of water then add to chicken.
3. Season with sea salt, and pepper.
4. Use hands to mix ingredients well.
5. To make the meatball scoop 1 and 1/2 inch round by 1/2 inch thick chicken patties to a palm of your hand and add cubed cheddar cheese.
6. Gently fold patty edge over so that no cheese is showing and roll softly into approximately an inch round meatball. Set aside and continue making the rest into meatballs.
7. In medium high heat cook meatball in olive oil until fully cooked. Remember to rotate meatballs constantly to allow them to cook on all sides.
8. Remove meatball from pan into a bowl. Do not turn heat off as the vegetables and sauce will use the same pan to cook in.

Step 3: Veggie in Spaghetti Sauce

1. Using the same pan from the meatballs, sauté the rest of the garlic and onions until almost golden.
2. Add tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, and your favorite spaghetti sauce and stir constantly until cooked.
3. Add chicken meatball back into sauté pan for 2 minutes then turn off stove.

Step 4: Assembling the Dish

1. When spaghetti squash is fully cooked, pull out of oven.
2. Using a fork, softly pull lengthwise the meat of the squash. The squash will come out looking like noodles.
3. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to lightly toss noodles in bowl.
4. Place and shape spaghetti squash into a bird's nest on plate.
5. Add 2 or 3 meatballs in the middle with sauce.
6. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese if desire.
And of course enjoy!

Comments

[bajablue]

Fabulous first Instructable!!!

I must confess I've never eaten or prepared spaghetti squash, but thanks to you, I'm going to. 

Great job! :-p~

[tofugami]

Thank you so much for the comment. I confess that this is my first time making spaghetti squash and it's was surprisingly easy to make and a very hearty substitute for the traditional spaghetti noodles.

[rocklocker]

It's 08:00 hours here in Illinois and I am wishing it was time for dinner and I was cooking this right now.

[tofugami]

Thank you. I hope you have fun making dinner tonight.

[tofugami]

Thank you Instructables for featuring my first recipe on here. I feel really honored and excited. There will be more creative instructables to come. :-)

[scoochmaroo]

Yum! I always use spaghetti squash in place of pasta these days. I love that you added cheese to the middle of each of your meatballs!

[tofugami]

Thank you! Believe it or not, it was my first time using spaghetti squash in a dish.