In case you don’t catch it right away, this is an attempt to please both the kids and adults. Not that the adults in this house don’t like pasta. But Jim and I are both attempting a Whole 30, which means no pasta for us.
And actually, we both agreed that the acorn squash tasted much better than the pasta for this dish. Pasta doesn’t have much flavor of it’s own really, but the squash lent a slight bit of sweetness that balanced the sausage, peppers and tomatoes.
This is a Whole 30 compliant meal (as far as I can tell). We really enjoyed this one.
Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
The squash, pasta and tomatoes aren’t in this photo. But the ingredient list for this recipe is really simple. I did buy sausages at Whole Foods. I wanted to find some without so many preservatives. They were a bit more expensive than grocery store alternatives, but they tasted really good. Here’s a post with instructions on making squash in the slow cooker.
Italian Sausage Skillet over Acorn Squash or Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs. Italian Sausage
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 red bell pepper chopped
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- baked acorn squash or cooked pasta
Instructions
- Slice the sausage.
- Brown sausage in a skillet.
- Add onion and peppers, cooking until tender crisp.
- Pour in tomatoes, along with the tomato juice from the can.
- Heat thoroughly and season with salt and pepper.
- Serve over baked acorn squash or cooked pasta.
This would also be great over spaghetti squash.
Bonnie, I’ve only tried spaghetti squash once. I think I over cooked it and my kids revolted. But I’ve got one in the fridge for an upcoming dinner. Hoping for better luck this time!
This looks delicious. One (hopefully not too silly) question: how do you bake the squash?! Thanks!
Jenny, I should have put a link to it, but here’s the post where I did it in the slow cooker. You can also use the oven. Bake it at 350 for 40-50 minutes, depending on how big it is.
Thanks for the tip, Tiffany. I’ll give this one a try! We had your chicken and dumplings again last night – that recipe is fool-proof, even I can do it 🙂
@Bonnie and Tiffany,
Spaghetti squash is great, unless you eat it on it’s own. Also, it’s, in my opinion, not good with marinara sauce. But it’s great under stir fry, stroganough, mixed in a ratatouille… so yes, it would probably be great with this.
Tiffany, cook it in the microwave if you have one. Cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, add water to one side, put it back together, throw it in the microwave for 10 mins. Keep cooking for 1-2min at a time until it’s actually soft all the way through. (It depends on the size and your microwave.) Once you know the timing, stick with squashes about the same size and then you don’t have to watch the microwave so much. It will be VERY hot, so we use a silicon mit to hold it. Use a fork to scrape it into a bowl and serve.
(If you do it in the oven, still use the water! That keeps it moist.
That said, how do you “bake” an acorn squash? It looks like you left it in the skin? I haven’t tried acorn squash yet because I don’t know what to do with it.
(One last squash that is fun, and makes a side or dessert- butternut. Microwave or steam, add cinnamon and nutmeg, mash, and serve. If you want, add splash of maple syrup and top with whip cream (definitely not whole food friendly, but not needed either) If you are feeling really up for it, I hear there are great pecan crusts that it would be spectacular on. I don’t know if they are “whole 30” friendly, but it is gluten free. I am looking for a sweetener-free version, but I haven’t been inspired to do the work yet.
Jessica, thanks for the tips on the spaghetti squash. I’m going to try that. I baked this acorn squash in the oven. Cut in half and scrape out the seeds. I just brushed the top with butter (I actually used ghee this time) and put them in at 350 for about 40-45 minutes or until done. I’ve also done acorn and butternut squash in the slow cooker.
Try zucchini noodles! Last night I made simple spaghetti and meat sauce but since I do not eat pasta I used my julienne peeler to make zucchini noodles. Just saute them briefly in a pan (I used garlic infused olive oil) and I actually prefer them to pasta now! Or you can use a spiralizer. Here is a great blog I recently found and all she uses is a spiralizer.
http://www.inspiralized.com/
Sounds good!
Hi Tiffany,
What size is the can of tomatoes?
15 oz. I’ll edit the recipe to show that. Thanks!