Pumpkin Alfredo Casserole

Today is Monday which means it's my crazy day. I work from 6-11 and then pick up Jaedyn & by the time I get home and feed her and eat myself, it's close to 1. This leaves me not much time to get dinner ready because I coach on Monday nights as well and leave around 5. I know you'd think she has 4 hours, plenty of time right? Wrong! When you have a 7 month old to entertain, feed, and diapers to change, plus other household tasks such as laundry, it really puts you in a time crunch. That is why I didn't want to start the food blog but decided I wanted an easier way of finding things I've made and is also why I'm so far behind. :) unfortunately for me, our oven doesn't have a time bake, so I can either make things ahead of time and just have Dave reheat it or prep everything & have him throw it in the oven when he gets home. Almost every night of the week dave gets home later then normal because he's out training for his xterra's, I don't mind at all because it gives me more room to get dinner done & all my dishes cleaned up. This way we can sit and enjoy each others company after dinner instead of me being back in the kitchen cleaning everything up. :) So since neither of us were going to be home, I wanted an easy casserole dish that I could easily make before and then just have Dave reheat it in the oven when he got home. When I was looking for a casserole dish Sunday night, I stumbled upon one that said pumpkin Alfredo. I thought it sounded interesting, so I checked out the recipe and saw that I had all the ingredients which included spaghetti squash (score!) and also read the reviews to make sure others thought it was good and any additional add ins they thought added to the dish. Everyone seemed to love it, so I asked Dave to see what he thought about it and knowing him all to well, I knew he'd say sounds interesting, lets give it a try. And sure enough, that's what he said. So glad I have a husband who is willing to try my crazy recipes :) did I mention that this recipe also has bacon in it?? That would be the other reason for trying it. Everything's better with bacon right? :) 

This dish did not disappoint AT ALL!! We both loved it. Only thing I'd change is I'd make the bacon beforehand and crumble it up, so you get a bite of bacon in every bite. With the bacon just resting on top, as soon as you'd cut it, the whole piece would fall off, and so either you rip off some and place the rest on top or just eat the whole thing and leave pretty much the rest of your portion baconless. It's not that the casserole wasn't good without the bacon, it's just the bacon added so much to it. :) 

Hope you try it because its a winner! Definitely will make this again. :) 

I didn't get a picture of the whole casserole because Dave ate before I got home because he was teaching guitar at 7 and I didn't get home until 7:30 from practice. So my apologies :) 

Dinner! Yum! I think I also had some type of raw veggie on the side, but I don't remember because I was so hungry, I scarfed my food down.  :) 

INGREDIENTS:

2 T Olive Oil

2 Cloved Garlic, minced

2 Shallots, sliced

1 can Organic Pumpkin Puree

1 can Full Fat Coconut Milk

2 t Dried Sage

1/2 t Marjoram

1/2 t Thyme

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 Spaghetti Squash, baked and innards removed

6 Pastured Eggs

8-10 Thick Slices of Pastured Bacon

INSTRUCTIONS

Brown the garlic and shallots in the olive oil.  Whisk in your pumpkin, coconut milk, sage, marjoram, thyme, salt, and pepper.  Bring to simmer, then cover for 15 minutes over medium-low heat.  Remove from heat and let cool.

Place the spaghetti squash in a large mixing bowl with the sauce and eggs.  Mix well and pour into a greased 2 QT baking dish.  Bake at 400 degrees for 35-45 minutes, until firm to touch and lightly browned.

Remove dish from the oven and arrange the bacon on top as the “crust.”

Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until bacon is browned and crispy.  Enjoy!

Recipe is from: 

http://www.tgipaleo.com/2012/12/20/baked-pumpkin-alfredo-casserole/