This one is for the pasta lovers, like myself. Being on this weight loss journey for over a year now, pasta is one of the things I have found difficult to give up. I switched to whole grain and that’s definitely better than white pasta, but then I started to see this new term pop up on my news feed and practically everywhere: SPAGHETTI SQUASH.Spaghetti squash? What’s THAT?! I’m not a squash fan, matter of a fact I’ve never had before in my life and how could you make the all-famous, carb-filled SPAGHETTI out of the hearty SQUASH? I started watching tutorial videos on youtube and reading people’s comments and it still really seemed too get to be true and most importantly, I wasn’t sold.
Last week I was at the grocery store doing my weekly produce shopping when something caught my eye: “spaghetti squash”. That’s what the actual vegetable is called. Can you believe that? So I bought one and decided to give it a try…and this is what I did.
1. Preheat the oven to 450
2. Cut the squash vertically in half
3. Spray/drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and any seasoning of your choice
4. Place on baking sheet uncovered for 45-60 min
5. Once cooked, let cool for a couple minutes. You can de-seed it while you wait
6. With a fork scrape out the squash and you will notice it will easily come out in strands exactly like spaghetti!
7. Top with your favorite sauce and toppings. Get creative or stay simple.
Let me tell you, during the whole process I had images in my head that when I came to scrape it out the squash it would be all mushy and would be a total mess. But to my surprise it came out perfect with no hassle. Now as for the taste it was perfect, I couldn’t ask for a better substitute. My pasta problem was solved! But the squash smell tickled my nose. I didn’t really like the smell, but I could get over that. It was extremely filling with a clean, hearty taste. Try Spaghetti Squash: the same pasta satisfaction minus the after taste of regret.
Share your spaghetti squash experiment on the Nadoona facebook page! Let us know what you think!
-Annie Hussein
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