Spaghetti Squash

When the husband and I visited the pumpkin patch last week, the produce was all half price.  This meant that spaghetti squash were only $2, which was cheaper than I'd seen them before when I'd considered buying them.  I'd never tried them, but everywhere I read said that it was a great, healthy alternative to actual spaghetti, and that there was hardly any difference in taste/texture.  Let me just say that I was quite nervous to try this... I get in a comfort zone with my foods and hesitate to try new things sometimes.  I also have a very "meat & potatoes" husband, so convincing him that we should try this was a feat.  He agreed to try it, so we purchased two.  And tonight I gave it a try.

First, you cut your spaghetti squash in half, long-ways.  It's pretty firm, so try not to cut a finger off in the process.  Next, take a spoon and scoop out all the seeds in the center.  Place face-down on a cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.  (sidenote--next time I'd cook mine a little longer because I had 4 halves on a cookie sheet & I don't think the heat distributed evenly; some parts were a little more firm)

Once they're finished cooking, fluff out the "spaghetti" gently with a fork.  It'll look something like this:

We tossed a couple tablespoons of butter in the spaghetti with some salad tongs, as recommended by a few recipes. It smelled pretty good at this point, but I was still pretty nervous.  The shells will look like this when they're scraped clean:

While the squash is cooking, I made my own sauce, which I've posted about before... I usually do some variation of the same type of chunky marinara--canned seasoned tomatoes of some sort, onion, garlic, spinach, etc.  I basically just make it to taste.  I also like to add parmesan & sometimes shrimp, which I did tonight.

Once both the squash & sauce were finished, all that was left to do was add the squash to our bowls, top with sauce, and give it a try...

The verdict from my husband?

He gave it a definate thumbs up!  He couldn't tell the difference between the spaghetti squash and regular spaghetti!  I wasn't AS sold on the spaghetti squash has he was, but I would try it again.  I'm a big texture person, so that was my only problem... the texture was a little more firm than I thought it would be, and that may just mean I need to cook it longer next time.  It also looks like sourkraut, which I don't like, so I tried not to look at it much.  LOL.  Next time I think I'd also just use a jar of pasta sauce so that it coats the "noodles" better, as I think that would help with my texture issue.

Overall, not a bad meal... and totally low in calories/points.  If you didn't put the shrimp in it like I did, it's a completely vegetarian meal!  You could certainly use meat sauce if you wanted, but that would add to the calories/fat.  With just veggies or shrimp, it's only 2-3 points per serving, which is definately pretty awesome for a huge bowl of "pasta"!

Any other recipes for spaghetti squash that you've tried & liked?  Link up!