Mushroom & Goat Cheese Squash Boats. Vegetarian dinner done right.

Welcome everybody to the September edition of the Crazy Ingredient Challenge! I just love this challenge every month. The challenge is to create a recipe with two unique ingredients that are not traditionally found in the same recipe. And I was so very excited to get the two ingredients this month. Spearheaded by the lovely Dawn at Spatula’s On Parade, we are a group that likes to think outside the cookbook and create some fun recipes each month. Want to know what the September challenge is? I hope you’re as excited as I am…. It’s Mushrooms and Goat Cheese! Woot, woot!

Now, these two ingredients are not really unusual to be included in the same recipe. I’ve done some things before with them, like stuffed mushrooms. My bigger challenge this time around was trying something different to use the two in.

We recently visited Petersen Family Farm in Riverton, UT and I found just what I needed; fresh spaghetti squash. Petersen Family Farm has been around for about 5 generations and they have delicious fresh fruits and veggies. I especially love their corn and was excited to have their spaghetti squash. I’m sure it would be better and fresher then what I would find at the grocery store.

For this challenge, I made squash boats. The best part of making this for dinner was Hubby and I can customize our boats. He dislikes goat cheese so he put mozzarella in his, but I can devour it. The basil flavored goat cheese I used was from Drake Family Farms and I picked it up at our local farmers market. For the recipe below, I just included what I put in my boat. I think it was better anyway.

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Mushrooms & Goat Cheese Squash Boats

Print recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cooked spaghetti squash (scooped out & seeds removed)
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2oz basil flavor goat cheese (plus more for garnish)
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/2 Medium red bell pepper (chopped)
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1 cup fresh spinach (chopped)
salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Step 1
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Take the guts of the squash and the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.
Step 2
Scoop into the squash shell. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Serve with additional goat cheese on top

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Seeing that you can customize your squash boats, you can add whatever ingredients YOU want. It’s a great way to empty the fridge of leftovers. I loved the flavor of the goat cheese in mine. And I’ll put mushrooms in almost anything. I loaded the boat up with both our crazy ingredients and it was a delight. I’m going to make this recipe again & again.