Casseroles can be very heavy and are usually made with large amounts of fatty cheese or cheeses to hold them together. I tried to lighten this casserole by using a secret ingredient of fat free cottage cheese to hold the squash together with only three whole eggs. I think that fat free cottage cheese taste more milky and closer to natural than fat free ricotta. I did use a conservative amount of blended pizza cheese made with part skim for the top to make the casserole tastier with some tomato sauce. You might notice that I didn’t add salt because I thought my fat free cottage cheese was salty enough but yours may differ. You can do a taste test of the squash mixture before you put it in the pan by removing a spoonful and baking it in the oven on some foil for about 6 minutes. It’s important to drain the squash well. It also should be mentioned that the casserole isn’t heavy enough to hold all the moisture from the squash so it will collect water that you will have to drain. This does taste good!

Ingredients for around 16 portions

2 large spaghetti squash – roasted, seeds removed and squash scraped out of shell, drained ( mine came to around 8 cups)

2 lbs fat free cottage cheese

3 eggs

2 teaspoons dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

few grates fresh nutmeg

8 oz Italian cheese blend – preferably fresh grated (I used about 2/3 part skim mozzarella, provolone and sharp provolone)

2 cups tomato sauce – preferably any recipe that you enjoy (or you can use basic winter tomato sauce recipe from www.TheForkingTruth.com or whatever you want)

neutral non stick spray

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F and spray a very large pan (I used a half pan) with non stick spray and set to the side. Also spray some aluminum foil for the top so the cheese doesn’t stick to the foil.

Once the spaghetti squash is drained put it in a very large mixing bowl and set it to the side.

Blend the cottage cheese till smooth. Blend in the eggs. Mix in the basil, oregano, peppers and nutmeg.

Add the cottage cheese mixture to the spaghetti squash and mix well. Now is the time to do the taste test for salt if you want to. When you are happy with the squash mixture pour it into the sprayed large pan and make the mixture smooth and even.

Spread out the grated cheese evenly over the top. Now spread out the tomato sauce over the top. Apply the foil with sprayed side towards the food.

This stays in the oven till cooked threw. In my oven this took 75 minutes. Yours may differ.

Serve with some grated Italian Cheese so nobody misses all the fat that isn’t there.