It’s that time again. Squash season. I effing love squashes. No, like I REALLY really really really, oh really love them. There are so many of them to choose from! And they’re so colorful. The super market hasn’t looked this pretty in a while. Ugh, I’m like a child’s story book today. Gag me.
But for real. Colorado is looking pretty damn beautiful lately. I love fall. It’s been raining. There’s been lots of lightning. And it’s finally not 90 degrees in my room so I sleep through the ENTIRE night without a drop of sweat on me. Which is pretty impressive with my sweating history. Meaning present history. Wait, what?
Anywho, this recipe is a leftovers recipe. Have you not heard of this yet? Damn you new reader! Get with the program. The recipe is a recipe I made in the past, but my pictures looked as close to vomit as possible so not enough people were interested in trying it. SO, I’ve remade this recipe in hopes that more of you will try out this delicious recipe and love it as much as I do. The bummer part of this recipe is that, well, it just pretty much always looks like dog doo. I tried to fancy it up. Tried to make it look better from the last, but alas, it just ain’t gonna happen. So if you don’t try this recipe out because you think the picture looks gross, jokes on you, your taste buds will remain unpleased. And hate you.
I’m getting excited for the weekend. I will actually spend time OUTSIDE of the coffee shop for once this week and get around other people who love food as much as I do. Think about how weird I must look in the coffee shop when I’m editing pictures of food. Or looking at pictures of myself that are going into my cookbook. Talk about self centered. So, in hopes of showing people that I do like other people other than myself, I will be attending the Do it Better! Paleo Conference which will feature the amazing Michelle from Nom Nom Paleo, Melissa who is the Author of Well Fed Cookbook and The Clothes Make the Girl, and Holly from Holly Would if she Could. Yep. Pretty sweet f*cking line up. I’m pumped. Who wouldn’t want to learn from the best?! And I read their blogs when I was first starting out paleo. Pretty cool. You should go too!!
Soooo there is a dead squirrel outside my house and it smells really bad. I saw these two squirrels fighting in the trees the other day. I’m pretty sure a squirrel on squirrel murder occurred outside of my house last night. Do I call the police?
Leftovers: Chicken Bacon Alfredo
- Prep Time: 25 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 1 spaghetti squash, cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed
- 1 larger delicata squash, cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed
- 1/2lb chicken tenders
- 4–6 slices bacon, diced
- 1/2 cup canned coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your 425 degrees.
- Cut spaghetti squash delicata squash in half and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and excess threads. Don’t be dainty.
- Place open side down on a baking sheet (use aluminum foil or parchment paper for easy clean up) and cook for 20-25 minutes. You will know when they are done cooking when you can poke the outside skin and it ‘gives’ a bit.
- Now you can either cook your chicken at the same time or after the squash is done cooking. Whatever you’d like. Just place chicken on a foil or parchment paper lined baking sheet, sprinkle some olive oil over the chicken (or other kind of fat), salt and pepper it, and sprinkle just a bit of basil on top. Easy peasy. I cooked my tenders for around 15-20 minutes, or until cooked through. Keep that sh*t moist bro.
- Once your squash is done cooking, pull it out of the oven, dethread the spaghetti squash into a large bowl with a fork. Go against the grain, if spaghetti squash had grain.
- Now throw your diced bacon into a skillet and cook until done. Use a slotted spoon to pull out your cooked bacon, but leave behind the grease.
- Take your delicata squash and hollow it out. Unless you want to eat the skin, be my guest. If you’re smart though, you’ll just use the insides and dump them into your warm skillet filled with bacon grease. Then add your coconut milk. You may need to add a little bit more coconut milk depending on how runny you like your sauce. Mix thoroughly with a ladle to break up the squash a bit. I used a pink ladle. It works the best.
- Add seasonings to the mix and salt and pepper as needed. Mix thoroughly and cook on low for about 5 minutes to simmer.
- Now dice up your cooked chicken.
- Pour sauce over spaghetti squash and add your chicken to the mix.
- Mix well.
- Top with bacon. Duh.
- Eat it like you mean it.
I get alittle freaked out when I read recipe reviews that go “soooo good, but I substituted X with Y and didn’t cook it that way and blaaaaahhhhh” then its not the recipe is it?!!! BUT since I do live waay over yonder and normally have at least half a spaghetti squash eyeballing me in the mess of a veggie drawer I make this recipe alot. With the delicata squash you get the right texture and flavor, but I admit to using my old friend Mr Sweet Potato, cooked and mashed, its not the same taste and I end up piling on the coconut milk to bring up the creaminess but it works, and we all have a couple in the fridge….. that being said, this was my first paleomg recipe, and still one of my favs.
I had this recipe at my girlfriends house last night and it is amazing!!!! I have a picky stomach and was sure the coconut milk would make me sick but from the first bite to the last bite it was heaven!!! I couldn’t stop raving about how yummy it was!!!!
And now I am finding tons of recipes that I am so excited to make!! Thanks!!!
This recipe is kind of a pain in the ass, but it tastes so good I don’t even care that I destroyed my kitchen in the process. I love it and my toddler couldn’t stop eating it
However, it definitely needs more chicken! 2oz of chicken per serving is a snack, not a meal in my book. 🙂
We had this lastnight and I have to say we are new to Paleo (1 month now) and I was scared that it would taste nasty, OMG it was the frickin bomb!!! My husband isn’t a squash guy either and he kept saying “I like this Paleo eating!!!” Thank you for this delicious recipe
I am considering going Paleo soon, I am here thinking your recipe sounds amazing and thinking it would taste good too with the addition of fresh herbs… Have you tried this before? Does it taste good too? Thanks 🙂
Absolutely! Whatever ones you want to add
If it’s got squash, it’s gotta be good. If it has bacon, it’s gotta be fabulous. Both, outta this world.
I love reading your post. You make me smile every time.
I noticed that you used canned coconut milk. Is there a difference between the canned and boxed? I usually get boxed coconut milk.
Yes, canned is thicker and has less added ingredients in it.
Making this now! Can’t wait to taste it! I bet it’s also good with tomatoes and capers; has anyone added either of these?? 🙂
Made this tonight using Butternut instead of Delicata because I couldn’t find ANY! Believe me, I LOVE Delicata; my fave squash by far. But since I knew I could substitute, I did. THEN I realized I didn’t have anymore coconut milk, nor almond milk and so didn’t want to go back out to the store, I used Vanilla Soy milk and YUM!!! Taste buds were a-jiggin’, baby!!! Even my 19 year old daughter who is NOT a big fan of squash, loved it and had 2 helpings! 🙂 Juli, you are an awesome cook, this is a great site and I’m your newest fan!! Rock on ‘Dancing Queen’!
Made this recipe last night. The spaghetti squash took a *long* longer to cook than expected…next time I will just nuke it and I know it’ll be done in time.
I could not believe how delicious the sauce was. My husband even commented on how good it was. We definitely WILL be making this again. WOW!!