Spaghetti Squash

I have been eating a little more "healthy" lately.. for a while that meant I was eating salads and being hungry ALL the time and basically not eating GOOD food. Healthy doesn't have to mean yucky. I have been playing around with substitutions and trying to eat happy. This is what I had for lunch the other day:

Not too bad right? Basically my own variety of chicken parmigiana. It is half a chicken breast with spaghetti squash (which is 40cal/cup) spaghetti sauce and a torn up piece of mozzarella string cheese. Here is how to make spaghetti squash:

Step one: choose a spaghetti squash. These are more commonly available during the fall but once you buy it, it will keep for ever. Okay not forever but if you keep it in the fridge it will last for like 4mos, on the counter it will keep for a month and a half or so. Choose one that is pretty solid in color, they should be a sunshiney lightish yellow. You don't want it to look like it got beat up, pick one that doesn't have any bruising or blemishes. 

Set the oven to 375F and let it pre-heat

Start poking holes in your squash, this is important, if you don't poke holes it could blow up...

Once it is good and holey put it in a baking pan (I used a pie plate) to keep it from moving around and bake it for about an hour

Once it is out you will want to let it sit until it is cool enough to handle. 

You will notice that the outside is hard, kind of shell-like

Cut it in half this way (vertically) if you cut it the other way it wont work. 

This is what the inside should look like, you will want to take the seeds and vertical string gunk out

There. Now this is the part you eat..

It should scrape right out with a fork. 

You will be left with two shell type pieces that you can throw out. 

I packed the stringy bits into four mason jars to be taken to work, microwaved and topped with sauce, chicken and cheese. This stuff can be eaten plain and has a slightly sweet flavor to it but is mostly tasteless so you can top it with whatever you want and it will pretty much take on the taste of whatever you put on it. Top it with spaghetti sauce and it tastes like spaghetti. It has a slight crunch to it but is mostly noodle textured. I am usually really weird about what I will and will not eat, and this passed. I have made it before where I cut it in half and got rid of the "guts" before baking and I think either way  it worked out fine. it is harder to cut in half when it is raw but the guts come out easier so its kind of a wash as far as which way is easier/better. 

Happy Baking =]

Enjoy =]