Pumpkin Turkey Gumbo Over Spaghetti Squash

Easy, yummy and different.  Easy because it takes minutes to make.  Yummy because it’s loaded with flavor.  Different because even though I use some of the same key ingredients as I did with previous gumbos, it still tasted different.  This is how I view my meals: where are my protein, fats and carbs coming from? For this dish, the answer is:

Protein=turkey meat (make sure it’s lean)

Carbs=mushrooms, spinach, broccoli, spaghetti squash, marinara sauce, beans

Fat=avocado

I just like to break my meals down as such.  Super easy and very effective for not only weight loss (forget the notion of having to lose weight-start thinking about longevity by not aging your cells with poor nutrition. Poor nutrition=old very quickly).  When you can fully appreciate basic physiology, you grow a whole new respect for nutrition and choosing foods that your body needs vs. what you know.

So, take a new client for example.  He emailed me tonight and said that he will start “my plan” tomorrow because the wifey already cooked him spaghetti.  Please note that he did have salad with that though-check!  Was there protein?  I will ask…Well, if I would have spoken to her earlier, I would have told her to make him this dish instead-the pasta alternative moving forward-spaghetti squash.  Ditch the pasta people-it makes you fat!

The Ingredients:

Spaghetti squash

Lean turkey meat

Crimini mushrooms

Organic broccoli

Spices (cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, garlic)

Avocado

Organic black beans

Pumpkin spice

Low sugar marinara sauce

The Directions:

Ok, let me preface it to you this way.  My kitchen is a mess when I cook cause I simply throw things in.  But I always start by making absolute certain that the bird is fully cooked.  And so, I spray the pan with cooking spray and may even layer the pan with some low sodium organic veggie broth for the meat to cook in.  I season the heck out of it.  And then once I have the evidence that the meat is fully cooked (like ZERO pink), then I add in all the other contents, including the pumpkin spice.

While doing this, I set the nuker for 16 minutes with the spaghetti squash which I cannot cut in half prior cause the thing is hard like a rock. You wanna chance cutting your hand off, more power to you.  But beware that after you cook it, it is super duper hot so use protective gear on your hands.  You will get burnt otherwise.

Once the contents and turkey are cooked, and the squash is cool to handle, then take a fork and scrape the squash strands out, remove the seeds into a separate dish and then divvy up the gumbo over the squash into separate containers for lunch and snack the next day.  This meal will feed approximately 4.  So, get ready to spend a maximum of 20 minutes making this dish.  Remember, I buy cut up veggies at either Trader Joes or Whole foods.  Like you, I am super busy so I look for healthy shortcuts.  There you have it!

Bon apetit! xo JZ