Hello! I’m Yvonne and I like to cook up vegan awesomeness in and around New York City. As a vegetarian, I often got the “Well, what do you eat?” question. As a vegan, I now get the “Well, what the hell do you eat?” question. The answer to both is: a lot! There’s so much you can do with fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains.

For instance, ditch the pasta tonight, Mother Nature’s got her own spaghetti growing in the garden. If you haven’t tried spaghetti squash, that’s “spaghetti marrow” to you Brits, autumn is the perfect time to get your gourd on. Try it in place of pasta underneath your favorite sauce, or test out the recipe below!

Ingredients 

(serves 6, or 4, depending on the hunger factor)

1 medium sized spaghetti squash/marrow

2 teaspoons olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 15-ounce can/410 grams red beans, cannellini beans or chickpeas (pick your favorite, but not baked beans!), rinsed thoroughly

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

Ground black pepper to taste

1 14.5-ounce can/400 grams diced tomatoes

½ cup/125ml water or vegetable broth

4 stalks kale, remove center vein and chop remaining ruffled leaves

1 cup frozen corn

Juice of half a lemon

Method

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/gas mark 6.

Cut squash in half, lengthwise. Scoop out center seeds. Rub the inside of each half with about one teaspoon olive oil per half. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Fill a rectangular glass baking dish with 1-inch/2.5 centimeters of water. Place squash, face down, peel side up, in the dish.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until peel is easily perforated with a knife.

After about 20 minutes of squash roasting, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a large stockpot or casserole.

Add onion and sauté 4 minutes. Add garlic, sauté 1 minute.

Add beans, continue sautéing for 3 to 4 minutes.

Add in coriander, cumin, salt and pepper. Stir for 30 seconds.

Pour in diced tomatoes, water or broth and kale.

Increase heat to medium-high. Cover pot and leave simmering for 5 minutes.

With a fork, pull out flesh from spaghetti squash halves (which has been cooling a bit on your counter, if I timed this properly).

Add the stringy goodness into the casserole along with the frozen corn.

Give everything a big stir until the corn heats up, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Stir in lemon juice and serve!

Feel free to garnish with chopped parsley and a bit of vegan cheese. If you’re not vegan, or you’re a naughty vegan, feta would go perfectly with this dish. Leftovers keep well in the fridge and reheat delightfully, so pack yourself some lunch for tomorrow!