Spaghetti

I have seen several paleo food blogs and books suggest the use of spaghetti squash in place of pasta. I was skeptical. These are the same people who swear up and down that cauliflower can be mashed and eaten like potatoes, or shredded and used in place of rice. Hork.

I have to admit, however, that the spaghetti actually is really good. I think because the squash is just so bland and neutral that if your sauce is worth anything, it takes over completely. The "noodles" are firm (and a little crunchy) and stay firm while absorbing the flavor of the sauce.

The squash is cut in half lengthwise, put into a glass dish (cut side down) with a little bit of water and nuked for about 10 minutes per half. Then you just scoop out the noodley things.

The sauce is so easy you should be ashamed for buying pre-made sauce. SHAME!

Seriously, brown your ground beef (I use a LOT, like 3 lbs) with a chopped onion, about half a red (or orange or yellow) bell pepper, and minced garlic. When brown, drain it then add several cans of diced tomatoes, one can tomato sauce and lots of herbs. You know like oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram, salt and pepper. Simmer till the tomatoes break up and the whole thing looks saucy and tastes like heaven.

Pulled Pork

Pork barbeque is a great way to have a delicious dinner for cheap. I paid less than $15 for this shoulder and the manbeast and I will eat it for dinner or lunch for three days. (Unless he keeps making his own plate, as you can see from the photo above, he piles every plate as though he thinks it may be his last.)

I borrowed the original recipe from here but changed it a bit. I used 1 TBS smoked paprika and 2 TBS sweet paprika (not a big fan of the smoked in general) and I added some cayenne.

I followed the sauce recipe more or less (I may have added Habanero sauce), but holy hell, it was vinegar-y. It smelled like a massengill factory up in here. I had to cut it with some molasses (still paleo, I think?) and at least twice the amount of ketchup. (Yes I used store bought ketchup. Let's not get crazy, mmkay?)

It was still a very thin not sweet at all type of sandwich style sauce. I was happy with it.

The sides are my previously mentioned pasta-less salad, and what should have been oven fried okra. It was definitely oven fried, just not for long enough, owing to the fact that my husband was near death from starvation (eyeroll) and the okra had to be rushed. Usually it gets slightly browned and nice and crunchy. Best veggie dish EVAR.

Just thaw frozen okra in the microwave, then drain it, toss it in olive oil and salt and scatter it out on a cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 30-45 minutes, stir it a couple of times.

Lasagna

Once, many years ago, I was invited by a friend to their grandma's house for dinner. I was lured in with the promise of lasagna, but was in fact served the most ghetto-licious meal ever devised. It was layers of lasagna noodles, unseasoned meat, orange slices of american cheese and KETCHUP.

True story. I still have nightmares about it.

So while this is a heavily modified version of lasagna, altered from my best recipe for carb control and affordability, at least it's not a soul killing abomination.

You've gotta have a rockin' sauce. It's so easy to make good sauce, there is no reason not to. Just brown some lean ground beef and a little bit of italian sausage, add onions, mushrooms and garlic. Throw in a few cans of diced tomatoes, one can of tomato sauce, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, marjoram or any other italian-y sounding herbs you have. Simmer till the tomatoes break down.

I use slices of zucchini (or eggplant) instead of noodles, just bake them on a cookie sheet till they're tender. Mix up some ricotta cheese with two beaten eggs and grate up some mozzarella for the all important cheese layer.

(Mozzarella cheese is not terribly fattening at about 80 calories for 1/3 cup. I use low fat ricotta as well.)

Layer all that stuff in a baking dish and bake it at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes.