Baked spaghetti squash topped with kale chips and parm

I had a particular spaghetti squash sitting atop of my stairs for the past.. 2 months now. I know I really should be using produce up faster for maximum freshness. Luckily, the spaghetti squash is a forgiving vegetable. In a matter of 2 months, it was holding up nicely and firm, still sweet and crunchy. Today I'm making spaghetti squash with kale chips, this picture-perfect and mouth-watering dish can easily become a dinner staple, and a great replacement for pasta nights. 

This recipe was originally from Guy Fieri, you know the guy who hosts "diners, drive-ins, and dives"? At first, the recipe sounds a bit too simple and combined a bunch of steps that I normally don't do. However the result was actually super delicious. Easier and yum, why the heck not? Original inspiration here: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/roasted-spaghetti-squash-with-kale-and-parm-3497556

What you need:

- 1 spaghetti squash

- 1 bunch of kale

- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped

- 3 spring of rosemary, take off the leaves, roughly chopped

- 2-3 tbsp of olive oil

- salt, pepper, garlic powder, red pepper flake

- 2 tbsp of Parmesan cheese

Recipe:

- wash the spaghetti squash, cut it in half length wise, and scope out the seeds and stringy innards with a spoon. I also cut the 2 ends (the stem and "butt" end) so flavors go in better. Be so very very careful not to cut yourself here. The skin of the squash is hard, in-edible, and impossible to peel. Rest the squash on a dish towel maybe, so it doesn't roll around as you cut. 

-rub about 1tbsp of olive oil all over the inside of the squash flesh. Stuff your rosemary leaves and garlic in the hollow of the squash, mixed with olive oil, season with sprinkle of salt and pepper.

- place the squash halves cut side down, so it looks like a little dome on the baking tin on parchment paper. Bake these babies for 45min on 350F. 

- in the mean while, wash, de-stem, and rip your kale bunch. So the leaves are about bite sized. wash well and dry them roughly. 

- add about 1tbsp of olive oil, salt, garlic powder, and black pepper onto the kale and mix it well. Place them in a single pan (mine has a bit more of a lip so the vegetable doesn't fall out). I like to add a splash of cumin and paprika here, optional obviously. If the kale is piling on top of each other. it's ok. It won't be ultra crispy, but that's fine as we are not going for that kind of thing today.

- once the squash is done. take those out, flip them around, and LEAVE THEM ASIDE TO COOL. I can't stress how important this is. If you don't fingers will hate you for it. in fact, go occupy yourself with the kales for now so your mind is off of this squash thing.

- bake the kale, for about 15 min, still at 350F. You get some crunchy bits, but don't over do it as it will burn. 

- take the kale out, let that thing cool. Ok now we get back to our squash here. use a fork to scrape along the long side of the squash, you will get spaghetti like long strings of fresh, fork those into a pot, along with your herbs and garlic bits, add another tsp of olive oil and mix. 

- plate your squash, top that with 2-3 fist full of baked kale, sprinkle some red pepper flakes and parm. Fam i'm telling you this was da bomb. 

This was really a easy dish, the time spent is mostly idle time. When your squash roasts just walk away and it needs no active involvement. Kale is also great like this, because the traditional kale chip can be a pain in the butt if you are looking to crunch up every piece individually - hello who has that kind of patience. Trust fam, this dish is so worth it.