Sun dried tomato basil spaghetti squash with olives

Our church had a Christmas party last Sunday and I had signed up to make some sort of vegetable side dish, I didn't know what but assumed I would figure something out as the days went on.  It got to Saturday morning and I realized I needed to get a move on and buy some ingredients... like always when I am under pressure to think of a dish my mind goes blank, so I called my trusty foodie friend all the way in Texas for some ideas....no answer, I was on my own :-)

I think I should trust myself more often, I have one and a half note books filled with recipes I have created over the past 6 months or so and yet this is my first recipe post.  Most of the reason is I worry that maybe it's just my family and I that think my food tastes good, well that and I don't have much free time to post them.  However, when I took this dish to the Christmas party I had a number of people ask for the recipe and tell me they just loved it, and my pastor who has a real appreciation for food was super excited about my dish !! 

So I feel very confident in sharing this recipe with everyone... I hope you enjoy !

Sun dried tomato basil spaghetti squash 
with olives

Step One Ingredients -

• 2 spaghetti squash
• Olive oil
• 1tsp thyme
• 1 1/2tsp onion powder
• 1 1/2tsp Garlic powder
• 1 1/2tsp dried basil
• 1 1/2tsp Sea salt
• 3/4tsp Black pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cut stem off from squash then cut it in half from top to bottom.  Once halved scoop out seeds and discard.  Lay the four squash halves down on a pan and pour a very generous amount of olive oil over the tops, rub in with your fingers.  Sprinkle the thyme, onion powder, garlic powder, dried basil, sea salt and black pepper over the tops of the squash.  Place uncovered in the oven until fork tender, it will take around an hour depending on the size of your squash.

The squash should look something like this once it's done and out of the oven, it could even be a bit crispier outside, I like the crispy bits.

Step Two Ingredients -

• 2 Halved and roasted spaghetti squash
• 1 can of black olives
• 1 can of green olives
• 1 pkg fresh basil
• Approx. 1/4c chopped sun dried tomatoes
• 1 purple onion
• 1 bulb of garlic
• 1/2tsp thyme
• 1 1/2 tsp dried basil
• Olive oil

Directions:
Heat a splash of olive oil in a pan, add chopped onion saute for about 3minutes add chopped sun dried tomatoes, and minced garlic (despite the wonderful amount of garlic in this dish it does not have an overly garlicky flavor, even though a whole bulb might sound a bit excessive it's perfect!).... saute until the onions are just soft, but still have a wee bit of crunch, you want to maintain some texture in the dish since the squash is so soft.  Turn off the heat and add the dried thyme and basil, chop and add the fresh basil as well.  Really you can just use more fresh basil if you have it, I only had one package but wanted more of a basil punch so I added a generous amount of dried basil.

The completed saute mixture

Spoon out the squash from the exterior into a large bowl, add both cans of drained green and black olives, add the above saute mixture and fold all the ingredients together until well combined but not too much to where it's a big mushy mess.

Serve to someone you love and enjoy....


 NOTES: In the recipe I used for these pictures I added a pound of browned ground beef to make it a complete meal instead of a side.  To do that, just add the beef in the same time the olives are added.  It's delish!

Depending on the size of your spaghetti squash you may need to adjust the seasoning amounts to taste.