A few years ago our good friends Gary and April moved to Los Angeles. I still haven’t gotten used to not seeing them every week and miss them terribly. One of my favorite things we used to do was bi-weekly Wednesday dinners, where we alternated going to one couple’s house and the host cooked / the guest brought dessert. These dinners were casual and lovely. Plus, it was nice to have something to look forward to in the middle of the work week.

If you have friends that live nearby, I definitely recommend starting this tradition with them!

Now (sadly!!) to see Gary and April we have to put in effort and planning. Waaah, wah, wahhh. Happily, we started a tradition of visiting them in LA every year for 4th of July – which certainly doesn’t make up for all of the time we don’t see them but at least we have one weekend a year where we know the four of us will get together again.

During our first 4th of July visit, Gary woke up early and reserved us a perfect spot at their pool, complete with umbrellas and couches to lounge on in between dips. We spent the whole day outside, alternating between lazily laying around and splashing in the pool. We ate, drank, laughed, and played. It was perfect. But, after all of that time in the sun (and all of those beers!), we were beat and opted out of plans to go to a nearby street fair.

Instead we stayed in and April made this AMAZING pasta dish that inspired my dinner tonight. In short, she added cooked bell peppers, garlic, onions, zucchini, asparagus and grilled chicken to pasta and tossed everything in olive oil and cilantro. So simple and so good! I love recipes that you can easily add and subtract to and from which is exactly what I did tonight.

You’ll notice I used the left over black beans and corn from yesterday’s dinner and I’m sticking with my Herb of the Week, cilantro. Also, no cheese!!

I hope you try this dish and maybe even have it at your own bi-weekly dinner with friends 🙂

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Ingredients 

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1/2 c black beans
• 1/2 c corn
• 2 garlic cloves – minced
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 2 Tbs cilantro (garnish)
• 2 Tbs green chilies (optional)

Directions

• Cut spaghetti squash in half, scoop out seeds, bake hallow side down* for 35 minutes at 350 degrees
• While squash is baking, sauté garlic in olive oil until translucent
• Add black beans, corn, and green chilies – stir
• Keep on low heat until squash is ready (you can also prep the spaghetti squash before and heat it back up in the sauce to save on time)
•  When squash is tender to forks touch, “shred” it
• Incorporate squash into beans and corn
• Top with cilantro
• Enjoy!

Note I usually put a little bit of water in my baking dish to keep the squash from crisping up

Stay tuned and eat your greens.

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** Note this blog went through a rebrand and is now veg vibes; which aligns better with the direction I organically gravitated towards. It’s all about your vibe **