March 16, 2014

Spaghetti Squash Tostadas


I am so sick of school fundraisers. That sounds horrible I know, but also very true. It all came to a head last week with a fundraiser not benefiting the school. I won't go in to details, but since I decided that I didn't want to have my son raise money he was not allowed to enjoy the popsicles and apple juice that all the other kids received for participating. I could have done the fundraising, but I chose not to. It was the 4th fundraiser since the beginning of the school year. During the first fundraiser my son raised 1200 dollars. I feel that that should be more than enough as my contribution for fundraising for the year. Apparently not though, they have had 3 more. Maybe I am getting old, but when I was growing up we had one fundraiser a year. One, nothing more. I understand that times have changed, things cost more money etc. However, I would rather donate supplies that I bought at 90 percent off at Target than donate to 4 fundraisers in 8 months. I joked with my husband that I am going to run for PTO next year with the slogan work smarter not harder. Obviously that won't happen, I'm way too much of a perfectionist to deal with all the fundraising drama. In the meantime I bought my son a whole box of popsicles for the dollar that he would have had to raise to enjoy the one at school.

 I try to incorporate at least one vegetarian or vegan meal into my meal plan every week. If left to their own devices my family would only eat meat (mostly bacon) three times a day. I prefer a more varied diet and have slowly converted them to my thinking. My husband has even started drinking the banana tofu smoothie I blogged about recently for breakfast every morning. Major progress. Last week I tried a new recipe for Spaghetti Squash Tostadas from the March 2014 issue of the Food Network Magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 40 minutes of total time, 25 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I only made a few changes to the original recipe. First, I used homemade beans instead of canned. I prefer homemade beans, they are cheaper and far lower in sodium than store bought. Secondly, my microwave wasn't large enough to fit the spaghetti squash in so I roasted it in the oven instead. It was easy since it could roast the squash while the tomatoes and onions were in the oven. Finally, I make my own chili powder. The flavor is better and it stores for 3-6 months, so it saves money.

With 440 calories and 11 grams of protein these tostadas were a nice vegetarian meal option for my family. My husband absolutely loved the spaghetti squash and ate the leftovers without the tostada shell for breakfast the next morning. Like most kids my sons were thrilled with the spaghetti squash, it's very kid friendly. To cut down on the heat for their servings, I tossed sour cream with the squash on their plate.

For the recipe go to Spaghetti Squash Tostadas. 

14 comments:

  1. I don't do any fundraisers, I know that is terrible, but it's always junk and I have 2 in the same school, so it would be super expensive if I did.

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    1. I'm beginning to think that is what I will being doing next year with two in school. Asking people for money every couple of months is just annoying....

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  2. I don't know about fundraisers but I do know that these tostadas look fantastic! :) ela

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    1. Thanks :) They were really easy to make and delicious!

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  3. WTH? That's ridiculous about the fundraiser and even worse that your son was excluded from something that should be optional to begin with. I'd be livid. I appreciate that my son's school doesn't do any fundraisers, they just have an open period where parents can write a check to the FTO if they want to. This recipe looks really good, I think it's good to find as many veggie recipes as possible.

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    1. I wish that our school would do that. I'd rather just donate money than deal with all the fundraising mess (and I was livid when it happened!).

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  4. I'm with you on the fundraiser... over done! I do like your recipe - I've never had spaghetti squash - I really need to give it a try!

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    1. Spaghetti squash is great, especially as a gluten free alternative to regular pasta.

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  5. I volunteer at the school when needed, assist in the classroom, donate toys or other useful things that I've used only for a blog review (many unopened), and donate Clorox wipes, paper towels, etc. that the teacher requests (not to mention the party favors and items needed throughout the year). So, when a fundraiser comes home that my kids have to sell 500 things for to get a popsicle (or whatever), I have no guilt in not participating. And I think the money opportunities collectively are getting a bit much, we're being dollared to death, not nickled and dimed to death in our school district.

    Other than that, I LOVE our school system. Really!! The staff, teachers, and admin. are fantastic. The education itself is wonderful. You just hit a nerve w/the fundraising stuff. :)

    I like the recipe. Veggie recipes are all I eat, so it's fun to find one I've not had anything close to at all, like this one!

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    1. I donate supplies also, that's part of the reason that it seems that the school is asking a lot with the fundraisers, where is all the money going to....Growing up there was only one fundraiser and our school did just fine. I am so sick of all the fundraising!

      I was a vegetarian for a long time, so I understand the need for great veggie recipes :)

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  6. oh Ann you are so not alone. I don't do more than one fundraiser at all. I have 3 kids in 3 different schools and while the high schooler and junior high schooler don't bother bringing home anything, the elementary schooler brings home at least 3-4 a year. How much fund raising does one school really need?

    As for your recipe, my daughter would love to give this a try. I may just have to get that magazine for her. She's heading off to college and I think a vegetarian cookbook would be great too. She's vegetarian so she's always looking for something new to try.

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    1. I will have both of my boys in school next school year and the fundraising will drive me even more nuts. It seems ridiculous to me, maybe they need to find a way to save money instead of all the fundraising....

      Have you tried the Moosewood cookbooks? My mom gave me one when I went off the college (and was a vegetarian) and I loved it! They have great vegan/vegetarian stew recipes that I still use, yum!

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  7. I don't know about fundraising, but I totally love these tostadas.

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    1. Thanks :) They were a nice vegetarian meal!

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