WFDW: Healthified Spaghetti Squash Chicken Carbonara

What’s for dinner Wednesday, a day late, because I didn’t want to wait until next week to post it for you!

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this to you guys on here, but about 5 years ago, I visited Italy for the first time. Their food is absolutely ridiculous! I’d have to run like 50+ miles a week if I lived there! If you don’t include any of the stuffed and layered dishes (stuffed shells, manicotti, lasagna), my favorite pasta is carbonara. There is not a damn thing healthy about this dish! In fact, Here is an example of a traditional recipe that I’m sure would be delicious, but not so kind to the waistline:

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I mean come on…. It’s Giada’s recipe, so you know it’s authentic and wonderful! I’ve never made a carbonara before this one, but I have always wanted to. This is another recipe that has been stewing in my head for a bit while trying to think of ways to healthify it.

A lot of times when I make a healthier version of a recipe, I’ll find one that looks good and then substitute ingredients. Other times, like this one, I look through several versions of the same recipe, pick certain ingredients that I like from different ones, and substitute the most unhealthy ingredients with healthier alternatives. I knew I wanted to use spaghetti squash instead of real pasta, but if you prefer the real thing, by all means, use it! You can put this sauce on whatever your heart desires!

I was fortunate enough to have girls’ night at my house the night I fixed this the first time, and it was a hit! I have to say I never expected it to turn out as great as it did!! I made it again later in the week, because we ate pretty much ALL of it! (Ok, I had like 1/2 a cup left to make one meal.) I was able to tweak and perfect it, and now I’m going to share it with you guys! It is gluten free as long as you use the spaghetti squash. I hope you guys enjoy it!!

here’s what you’ll need:

2 strips of bacon

Five slices of Canadian bacon

half of a chopped onion

EVOO

Salt and pepper

2 to 3 cloves of chopped garlic

3-4 tablespoons of arrowroot powder (thickening agent)

1 teaspoon dried oregano or Italian seasoning

2-3 cups plain unsweetened almond milk

2 cups low-fat buttermilk

1/2 cup plain lowfat Greek yogurt

1 large boneless skinless chicken breast shredded

8-10 medium sized button mushrooms sliced

1 cup or half a small bag frozen peas

Quarter cup fresh chopped parsley

3 egg yolks

Heat a about a teaspoon of evoo (2-3 swirls around a large pan) on medium heat. sauté onion for about 2 minutes or until transparent.

add chopped bacon and Canadian bacon to onion, and cook for a few more minutes. make sure you thoroughly cook the onions, because I didn’t the first time. Yes there is bacon, but there is only enough to add a hint of flavor. Many of the recipes I saw called for a full cup of it ;-). add garlic and cook for another minute. sprinkle in the arrowroot powder, and stir to coat the onions and bacons.

add 2 cups of almond milk, salt and pepper, and stir. cook for 5 or so minutes while continuing to stir until it starts to thicken. add 1 cup buttermilk, and continue same thing. It will keep thickening, because arrowroot powder is very efficient at what it does. Add mushrooms to sauce and keep on stirring!

I feel like I have said “stir” like 16 times already. That is the key, though, as you’ll see. add chicken. add a little bit more almond milk alternating with the rest of the buttermilk until both are gone. sprinkle in parsley, add yogurt, and guess what? Yup! Stir. turn down heat to low, and mix in the frozen peas.

You want to lower the temperature before you add the egg yolks so the egg doesn’t scramble. slowly pour in egg yolk and incorporate it completely into the sauce. turn the heat up just a little bit to warm up before serving. in general throughout the whole process, resume stirring if you see the sauce bubble around the edges.

Spoon sauce over spaghetti squash and serve! You can top with shredded parmesan cheese if you’d like. The first time I made it, I shredded about 1/4 cup right into the sauce while it cooked. You can include parmesan either way. Here is the finished product! I think I added some more salt and pepper to the sauce before I served it. I went heavy on the pepper, but it’s totally personal preference.

Approximate nutrition information generated using SparkPeoplecom:

If you watch your sodium intake, definitely reduce the amount of salt you use. I had to guesstimate the amount, because I didn’t measure it. I do use Pink Himalayan salt, though, so its nutritional content is likely different.

Please leave me a comment if you get to make this, and tell me how it turned out! Also, if you have any requests for recipes to healthify, leave it below! Have a great week!!

Happy Trails,

Stacey

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