Monday, September 17, 2012

Roasted Spaghetti Squash with a Meat Marinara

 
 
The beginning of the fall harvest brings apples, pears, butternut squash and this intriguing variety of squash, the spaghetti squash. I may be easily entertained but it's quite exciting! You can bake a seemingly hard and dull squash and in turn scrape out "noodles". I'm surprised by the amount of people I mention this dish to and they are unaware of it's existence. I am a huge fan of the spaghetti squash because it gives me the freedom to eat a huge plate of "spaghetti" with meat marinara with the joy of knowing, at the same time, I'm getting calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, and fiber with only a few grams of carbs. And yes, after 2 big babies and 2 c-sections, I do care about my carb intake! I'm sure that I'm not alone in this! This is not a dish that I reccommend making when a spaghetti squash is not in season. They can get quite pricey any other time of the year but right now, rejoice, and go to your local farmer's market or grocery store and discover the awe-inspiring performance of the spaghetti squash!
 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
 
Ingredients:
1 medium spaghetti squash- for 2 people. 1 large squash for a family.
olive oil
salt and pepper
meat marinara-sautee meat, or vegies, and add your favorite jarred marinara sauce
 
 
This is a spaghetti squash. Oval in shape and yellow.
 
 
 
Slice the squash lenth-wise with a very sharp knife. Scrape out the seeds. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place face down on a baking sheet. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from oven.
 
 
 
Turn over onto serving plate and top with the marinara and cheese. We eat ours right out of the shell, like a bowl. If you're preparing a large squash, bake for 1 hour and scrape the "noodles" out into a bowl for serving.
 
 
 
Quite the amazing vegetable!
 
 
 
 *Try any sauce or topping you would use for pasta. You could do pesto and feta, sausage and peppers... the possibilites are many.*