Have you ever had spaghetti squash before? When I began to really start educating myself on what I eat and how the food I put into my body affects me, I quickly understood that standard noodles just weren't doing anything for me. Well, anything good anyway. I grew up a pasta girl, and I really like pasta! Spaghetti noodles with a hearty meat sauce & a good sprinkle of Parmesan cheese is one of my favorite meals. So when I decided to cut processed grains from my diet (or at least try to avoid them most of the time) I really hoped to find a good replacement for my beloved pasta dish. Spaghetti squash came up quite a bit on recipe blogs, in recipe books, and in any general Pinterest search. I was extremely skeptical, squash instead of noodles? Eh, I don't know about that. But it works. It really does. The great thing about spaghetti squash is that the taste is extremely mild, like a plain noodle would be, so when topped with a hearty meat sauce you almost forget that you're eating super healthy squash & not pasta! :-) And my husband LOVES this dish. He asks for it all the time, our grocery store does not always carry spaghetti squash in store and he's always super sad when I tell him no spaghetti squash that week.
Bonus, aside from the task of chopping the squash up this recipe is EXTREMELY EASY. We love that. Make sure you use a sharp knife and you'll need a little arm power- these gourds can be a bit tough to cut through but the work is worth it!
Bonus, aside from the task of chopping the squash up this recipe is EXTREMELY EASY. We love that. Make sure you use a sharp knife and you'll need a little arm power- these gourds can be a bit tough to cut through but the work is worth it!
Ingredients:
1 large or 2 small spaghetti squashes
Olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste
Your favorite spaghetti sauce, I used organic ground beef & bottled Glen Muir tomato sauce
Step 1: preheat oven to 375 degrees. I generally use 1 large spaghetti squash but I couldn't find a good one today, so I went with these 2 smaller guys.
Step 2: cut off the tops and bottoms of the squashes:
Step 3: cut the squash in half longways like so:
Step 4: scoop out the seeds & pulp & throw those bad boys away:
Step 5: line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy cleanup. Liberally coat both sides of the squash with olive oil. I just use my hands to make sure the oil gets in every nook & cranny.
Step 6: season rind side of squash liberally with salt & pepper.
Step 7: roast rind side DOWN for 30-40 minutes.
Step 8: while your squash is roasting go ahead and make your fave sauce. All I do is brown a lb of ground beef and then add a jar of spaghetti sauce:
Step 9: when your squash halves are done roasting it's time to scrape out your "noodles"! Place a squash half in an oven mitted hand, using a fork just scrape out the insides into a bowl.
The squash will come out very easily and look a little like this:
Top with your favorite meat sauce or butter & cheese or whatever you think sounds good!
Enjoy!
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