Hey everyone! My name is Ashleigh, visiting from Team Never Going Back and I am just thrilled to be posting on Stay Classy Ana — we met in high school and now both have new, growing blogs. I am a huge fan of her blog, so I jumped at the opportunity to be a part of it. Just a little bit about myself and my cooking style: My goal is to create the healthiest, most flavorful dish by using minimal ingredients, simple methods, and avoiding anything too “off the wall.”   Let’s just say I like things easy!  Thank you very much for tuning in, please feel free to leave comments!
Pesto Spaghetti Squash with Chicken:

Spaghetti Squash, about 3 lbs
3 oz fresh basil, about 2 cups
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
18 oz chicken breast tenderloin, thawed
1 tbsp AND 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large zucchini
2 medium Roma tomatoes

Alright guys, for this pesto “pasta“, I went all out and not only made my own noodles, but my own sauce as well. I took a chance and made this pesto without any oil, which works out well in this case because I will be using oil to saute the chicken and the zucchini. It came out really good and I saved a ton of calories for later!… Maybe for a glass of wine? =]

Now, if you have never cooked with spaghetti squash, fear not! Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and allow me to show you how easy it can be. These guys are hard to cut. I found it is a little easier if you cut off the top and bottom off before you try to cut it in half. Next, there are seeds very similar to pumpkin seeds; pull all these out (can also be cooked, but not for this recipe!). I use salt and pepper grinders (shown) on both sides, 2 spins of each and place faced down on a cookie sheet with foil and cooking spray. The squash is going to stay in the oven for 25-35 minutes depending on its size, so just check it at 25 to make sure it isn’t too brown. Mine came out perfect at 30 minutes.

While the squash cooks, we can make our pesto sauce. In a food processor blend basil, garlic, Parmesan cheese, lemon juice about 1/2 a tsp of both salt and pepper and 1/3 cup of water. Adjust salt and pepper to taste and add more water to get the consistency you want, up to 1/2 a cup. I used just a little less than 1/2 a cup.

Put the pesto sauce aside and cut chicken into 1 inch pieces and cut zucchini into slices, as shown below and sprinkle both with a little salt and pepper.  Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a medium pan over medium-high heat and cook chicken for 6-8 minutes; no pink! In a smaller pan, heat 1 tsp of oil over medium heat and cook zucchini for about 5 minutes, until tender. See I cooked mine at the same time!

Once your squash is finished, let it cool for a few minutes or use a towel to hold it if it is really hot. Using a fork, scoop the squash into a bowl. Mix in the pesto sauce very well to get all the “noodles” and then toss in the zucchini.

Divide “pasta” into four bowls. Top each bowl with 1/4 of chicken and half of a diced tomato. Enjoy!

Nutritional Information: Calories – 344    Fat – 12 g    Carbs – 27.6     Protein – 36.8