Feel Freda Talk

I created this dish based on a stuffed sweet potato. We had a spaghetti squash that needed to be used, so I figured we’d just replace the sweet potato with the spaghetti squash, but then decided I also wanted sweet potatoes. Here it is!

Ingredients:

• 1 spaghetti squash
• olive oil
• black pepper and salt, to taste
• 1 avocado
• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• brown rice, cooked according to package
• seasoned black beans
• 1 package chicken sausage, cooked
• Maple Dijon dressing

Directions:

1. Cut the spaghetti squash in half (like a hamburger, not longways), drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Bake on a baking sheet at 400ºF for 45-60 minutes, depending on size, on the top rack of the oven. We want the outside to soften and the inside to be soft enough to shred with a fork.
3. Wash and cube the sweet potatoes and add them to a bowl with olive oil, paprika, and garlic powder, and toss to coat.
4. Arrange the sweet potatoes on a parchment lined baking sheet and put them in the oven on the bottom rack.
5. While those are cooking, make the seasoned black beans and Maple Dijon dressing.
6. After about 30 minutes, toss the sweet potatoes. We don’t want them crisp on just one side!
7. Cook the sausage to your liking. We buy the Trader Joe’s sweet apple sausage and season it with McCormick Smokehouse Maple seasoning and I like them crispy, so we cook them a little “too long”.
8. Once everything is ready to go, assemble! Originally, I wanted to use the actual spaghetti squash as a bowl, but I wound up just shredding it and adding it to a regular bowl instead. I assembled mine as follows:
   • spaghetti squash base
   • brown rice
   • seasoned black beans
   • avocado
   • sausage on the side
   • Maple Dijon dressing over everything