Spaghetti Squash

Have you ever looked at a food in the grocery store and thought, "People eat those?" or "What am I supposed to do with that?"

Well, I have. I remember thinking that about Squash. Not the small yellow zucchini squash, but the big ones...you know....butternut and spaghetti. Now, I love cooking with them.


Spaghetti squash is awesome too because you can trick yourself into thinking you are getting a carb, and you're really eating a veggie!! It's because after it is cooked, it comes out like Spaghetti...in strings. So you can mix it with just about any pasta type recipe, and voila, you've got a healthier version.

First of all, basic instructions for cooking a spaghetti squash:

Cut lengthwise and it looks like this:

Put in 13x9 pan with about 1/4 inch of water, Bake at 325 degrees for an hour, covered.

Now, on to what I made tonight for dinner found in the Betty Crocker New Cookbook circa 1996:

1 Spaghetti Squash (about 2 lbs)
1/2 cup of onion
1/2 cup green pepper
1 large clove of garlic
2 Tbs. olive oil
4 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp. fennel seed
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 Tbs. butter or dairy free margarine
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese (optional)

Prepare and cook squash. Set aside. Saute onion and green pepper in olive oil for about 5 minutes over medium heat. Stir in tomatoes, salt, oregano, basil, fennel, and pepper. Simmer uncovered for about 5 minutes.

Remove all seeds from squash. Then, take a fork and pull out squash into spaghetti-like strands. Toss with butter and cheese, then mix with tomato mixture.

If you leave out the last two ingredients, this is easily dairy free too and would still have plenty of flavor.
Even my 3 year old gobbled it up. We ate it with a side of whole wheat bread. Yum!