cheesy chicken baked spaghetti squash
 Click here for the WTC recipe index, and scroll to the bottom of this post for a printer-friendly version of today’s recipe. Happy Thanksgiving week! Living in California — way across the country from our families in North Carolina — has meant nine years of totally different Thanksgivings. Our only Thanksgiving tradition is having no Thanksgiving tradition. We are turkey nomads; wherever we are invited, that is where we end up! This year we’re spending it with our friends Ari and Corey down in Los Angeles. Braving Thanksgiving Los Angeles traffic?! With an 8-week-old baby who hates the car?! Yep, we’re doing that. But Ari and Corey are worth it. We became friends when we lived in San Diego and they are two of the funniest, smartest people we know. Also, Corey is the President and COO of Van Leeuwen ice cream, so I plan to spend a lot of time getting personal with their freezer. Whether you’re hosting at home or driving long distance, flying across the country or driving across town, I know one thing is true: the beginning of a crazy busy season is upon us. The holidays are here! Especially since this week is such a cooking-heavy week for so many of us, I figured we all deserve a meal that is absurdly easy, cozy but healthy, and comforting but full of vegetables. Enter: a spaghetti squash bake. In 2020, I developed five 5-ingredient spaghetti squash recipes for The Kitchn and fell in love with using the vegetable not as a pasta substitute, but as a healthy binding ingredient to bring lots of other yummy ingredients together — like tortillas do for enchiladas, or rice does in so many casseroles. I’ve since shared many more spaghetti squash bakes because my entire family loves them so much. This one is full of cheesy, savory flavor, with bits of shredded chicken or turkey throughout. It is the closest to a casserole that we’re likely to get here at What To Cook, and it is delightful. This is a great quick and easy meal for the week leading up to Thanksgiving, but it would also be an excellent choice to cook it this weekend and swap in leftover turkey for chicken. I’ll provide notes below the recipe on how to do so. Here are some other places you can swap in turkey for chicken to make use of all those leftovers: White Chicken (Turkey!) ChiliStir some shredded turkey into Colu’s Pasta e Ceci Chicken (Turkey!) and Rice SoupOne-Skillet Broccoli Cheddar Chicken (Turkey!) Pot PieSouvla-Inspired Chicken (Turkey!) Salad One-Pot Cheesy Cajun Chicken (Turkey!) and Rice (just skip the meat-cooking steps and serve some leftover turkey slices on top of this delicious one-pot rice and veggie meal) White Chicken (Turkey!) Chili White Chicken (Turkey!) Chili Stir some shredded turkey into Colu’s Pasta e Ceci Stir some shredded turkey into Colu’s Pasta e Ceci Chicken (Turkey!) and Rice Soup Chicken (Turkey!) and Rice Soup One-Skillet Broccoli Cheddar Chicken (Turkey!) Pot Pie One-Skillet Broccoli Cheddar Chicken (Turkey!) Pot Pie Souvla-Inspired Chicken (Turkey!) Salad Souvla-Inspired Chicken (Turkey!) Salad One-Pot Cheesy Cajun Chicken (Turkey!) and Rice (just skip the meat-cooking steps and serve some leftover turkey slices on top of this delicious one-pot rice and veggie meal) One-Pot Cheesy Cajun Chicken (Turkey!) and Rice (just skip the meat-cooking steps and serve some leftover turkey slices on top of this delicious one-pot rice and veggie meal) You get the picture! So don’t you dare waste any of that delicious leftover turkey — or resign to eating only turkey sandwiches for days on end (but definitely make these cheesy cranberry turkey sliders at least once). Report back on what you do with your leftovers! Serves 4