Oh dear spaghetti squash, how have I lived a life without your filling fiber? Your strands of sauce delivery? You are the ying to my yang… for this week at least.
I went to the grocery store (one of my least favorite activities EVER) and they had this massive display of pumpkins, gourds and funny squashes. I really dislike yellow squash. It's one of the very few things that I won't eat, thus why I have avoided the spaghetti squash. Could it really taste that good?
Man I was wrong! On a whim (and probably because I was shopping while hungry – cardinal sin of grocery shopping), I picked up 2 of these things and decided to try them out. If I didn't like them, I could toss them – no biggie.
I searched a lot of sites on how to cook the squash. The first attempt I didn't cook it long enough, but had no idea what it was supposed to be like. The second time, I cooked an extra 10 minutes and it was perfect. I picked up 2 more from the store today (a special trip JUST for spaghetti squash – amazeballs!) and cooked tonight's too short again, so put it back in for another 10 minutes. Probably depends on the size of the squash. If you're unsure, start to shred w/your fork. If you can't shred to the skin of the squash, it's not done. It should shred easily.
So, here's my journey into spaghetti squash making.
Nutritional information (via Livestrong):
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient database, 1 cup of cooked spaghetti squash provides 42 calories, 0.4 gram of fat, 1 g of protein, 10 g of carbohydrate (4 g as sugar) and 2.2 g of fiber.
Tonight, I enjoyed a whopping 2 cups of spaghetti squash at 84 calories (that stuff is heavy and dense and very filling!) with 1/2 cup of fettuccine sauce (220 calories), sea salt, pepper and minced garlic. Super filling at just over 300 calories. RIDICULOUS. Seriously. I bet it would have been great with some diced chicken breast, but I was too tired and lazy to cook the chicken.
So tell me, do you like spaghetti squash? What do you season it with, or what is your favorite way to eat it?