Gluten Free Spaghetti Squash with Vegan Sundried Tomato Mushroom Sauce - Birthday Dinner for Brian

look at that handsome 30 year old!

Brian turns 30 today! Yay! Of course, for his birthday he wants to go backpacking. So, to celebrate his big 3-0 we are taking a 3-day trip to Coyote Canyon in Anza Borrego. We did this trip three years ago (time flies!) to check out the wildflower bloom, and after we got back we read that if we had kept climbing up one of the waterfall oases we would have hit some cool 60's hippy art. So we're going to check it out again, especially since the dessert is a good spot for the winter time as it's a bit too cold to go up to the big mountains.

Brian rockin' a snazzy hat at the oasis in 2009

I wonder if there will be any water at the falls this time of year

We did a little pre-birthday celebration dinner last night because I have class till late tonight and Brian has work tomorrow night. Brian was supposed to work last night too, but when he called to say it got cancelled, I threw this last minute celebration together in two hours (including a run to the store). Since Brian's latest interest is mushrooms (thanks Omnivore's Dilemma), I tried to do something that incorporated fungi for a fun guy's birthday. What resulted was:

Spaghetti Squash with Creamy Sundried Tomato 'n Mushroom Sauce (Gluten free, dairy free, vegan)

Ingredients:
1 medium-large spaghetti squash
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 onion roughly chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic minced
1 spicy pepper or 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
1/4 cup of sundried tomatoes or about 6-7 slices
2 cups of mushrooms sliced
1 1/2 cups rice milk (or other non-flavored milk or milk substitute)
1/4 tsp salt, pepper to flavor
chopped parsley to garnish

Preheat oven to 375

Brian with his bday dinner and organic beer

Slice spaghetti squash lengthwise and scoop out the stringy pulp and seeds (reserve seeds for roasting)
Fill a large rectangular casserole dish 1/2" deep with water and place the spaghetti squash flesh down inside
Bake the spaghetti squash for about 40-45 minutes, until you can easily poke the flesh with a fork and it separates into spaghetti strings (roasting time will vary with the size of your spaghetti squash)
Meanwhile, heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in in a deep frying pan over medium-low heat.
Saute the onions, garlic, and pepper until soft
Add in the sundried tomatoes and let simmer a few minutes, then add in the mushroom slices for a few minutes
Add in the rice milk and salt and bring just to a rolling simmer and then reduce to low/medium-low, stirring on occasion.
When the spaghetti squash is ready, remove from the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes until it is cool enough to handle.
Then scoop out the spaghetti strings with a fork. You can just loosen the strings and keep the skin as a pretty bowl, or you can transfer it to a bowl if you prefer. Then top with the sauce.
Garnish with fresh ground pepper and fresh parsley.

Mrs. Panda Terrarium joined in the party

We had this with a garden fresh salad, which is what we've had for lunch and dinner the past week because nearly every inch of our front and back yard is populated with lettuce - it's even showing up on the grass strip across the sidewalk in the front!

garden bounty!

blowing out the "birthday candle" with his vegan, sugar free cake

Since I was caught off guard with our impromptu birthday celebration, I didn't have the ingredients needed to make Brian a vegan, sugar free birthday cake. So I ran out to People's Co-op to get him the bakery item of the day (organic, cane sugar free chocolate cake with vegan mocha cream) and had him blow out a pretty scented candle. Not the most exciting 30th birthday, but backpacking is what he loves so that is what we will do to celebrate.



Shared on The Gluten Free Homemaker's Gluten Free Wednesdays

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