Twice Baked Spaghetti Squash Goodness

Tom is back on the road again so I'm back on as head chef for the week.  I was perusing Pinterest the other day and happened upon a pin of a recipe that I thought was interesting.  I'm a huge fan of spaghetti squash and thought that a twice baked version was such an inventive way to enjoy the squash!

I actually didn't follow the recipe exactly and used more for inspiration.  Click the link to the recipe - Twice baked spaghetti squash recipe

Below are my modifications:

Instead of oven baking (because who has 60-90 minutes on a work night to wait for dinner?) I chose to use the microwave to do the initial cooking of the squash.  I only need a half of the squash so I cut in half, removed the seeds, and placed center side down in a pyrex dish with some water covered with cellophane.  Microwave for 10 minutes until soft.

I decided to use the variation suggestion from the recipe to make the dish as a meal.  While the squash was in the microwave I uncased a chicken sausage and put it in a small sauté with a sliced banana pepper.  I also prepared black beans and rice.

When the squash was prepared I followed directions of removing the squash from the casing with tongs and put into a large bowl with butter.

I then mixed in the sausage and pepper mixture to the squash, added some garlic, pepper, salt and oregano.  I lined the bottom of the squash casing with two spoonfuls of black beans and rice then added my sausage and squash mixture and topped with shredded cheese.

I then put the final product pictured above into a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes until the cheese melts.  I served with a chopped salad.  This is a very versatile recipe so be creative!