Spaghetti Squash Boats with Ragu Sauce

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I remember one of my favorite memories of family dinner growing up was my mom’s homemade spaghetti. Now that we’ve done less and less pasta in our home, I used squash as a substitute for pasta for our spaghetti dinners. I was excited to make this fun new recipe, Spaghetti Squash Boats, with a traditional Ragu pasta sauce. It’s really just a different way of serving the meal, but anything to make vegetables FUN, right?

Spaghetti Squash Boats

Besides my mom’s delicious spaghetti recipe, my parents taught us the important ritual–which turned into a tradition, of sitting down together as a family for dinner each night. I remember doing that as a kid, with all of my brothers cracking jokes around the dinner table, and passing the food around the kitchen.

As a mom, I hold dear that precious dinner time, and aim to avoid scheduling kids sports that run into that time, or we adjust it accordingly. I’m grateful that my husband gets home from work at around 5pm, and we can sit down together–all 6 of us–before some evening weeknight activities. No TVs, phones, or electronic devices during dinner time, just everyone fighting to share their story of the day, laughter, and fun. It’s pretty funny, sometimes we have the running joke of, “you took a breath” when someone starts a story before another story is finished. Sometimes, you just gotta talk fast in order to be heard, and I love that joyous commotion.

Though I can’t remember exact conversations of those family dinners growing up, I remember the feeling of unity we felt, which carries onto us today as adults. I hope my children recognize this as important, and carry this tradition into their families as well.

Speaking of tradition…this post is sponsored by Ragu traditions” and they want everyone to know that their founder, Assunta, worked hard as an immigrant single mother and eventually and entrepreneur.

Assunta Cantisano made the voyage from Italy to America with her family’s recipe for tomato sauce– a secret combination of vine-ripened tomatoes, fresh basil, fennel, garlic and ground pepper, having written down every detail, she hid it for safe passage. After the neighbors raved about it,word spread, and when people in Iowa started grabbing it off the shelves, it became a legend.

Hundreds of pasta sauces have graced the shelves over the past 80 years, but only one has become America’s favorite!

Here is a little visual step by step for how to prepare this SIMPLE meal!

Spaghetti Squash Boat Recipe

Really, I could stop there, because there isn’t a whole lot of “recipe” involved, but I did learn a trick for cooking the spaghetti squash.

4 from 1 vote
Spaghetti Squash Boats
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
15 mins
Total Time
25 mins
 
Delicious dinner, twist on traditional spaghetti
Servings: 4
Author: Kristen Duke
Ingredients
  • 1 spaghetti squash
  • 2 cups Ragu Sauce
  • 1 lb. ground sausage
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
Instructions
  1. Cut squash length wise, and de-seed
  2. Microwave Spaghetti squash in dish, with small amount of water in bottom for 5-7 minutes, until cooked.
  3. Scoop up insides up, but don't discard (that's your pseudo noodle).
  4. Cook ground sausage, mix with Ragu sauce
  5. Pour meat sauce over squash.
  6. Sprinkle with a mixture of parm cheese and mozzarella cheese
  7. Broil 3 minutes
  8. Serve

I’m sharing this post in collaboration with Ragu pasta sauce recipes.

traditional ragu sauce

 

Please visit the Ragu site to discover more of their heritage story!

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