Spaghetti Squash Italian Bake

After a weekend full of Thanksgiving carb overload, I was craving something low carb, but still with that classic comfort food feel.  I have experimented with spaghetti squash in the past, and wasn't a huge fan. After my disappointing dinner, many people told me I should try the fruit with tomato sauce. That's when I had the idea to go a little further. What if I combined baked ziti and spaghetti squash? It could be healthy and low carb, but also flavorful and comforting. Time to get to the laboratory I call a kitchen.



What you need:



2 Medium to large spaghetti squashes
1 Jar of tomato sauce
2 Cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
Red peppers
Oregano

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 375.
Puncture a few holes in the squash, and pop in the oven for an hour.
Once they are done cooking, cut them in half and let them cool for about 20 minutes.
Remove and dispose of the seeds.
Using a fork, scrape out the meat of the squash. It should look stringy like spaghetti.
Mix the squash and the tomato sauce in a baking pan.



Sprinkle on the red peppers and oregano to taste, then top with cheese.
Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, then broil for 2 minutes.












Ding, ding ding, we have a winner! Everyone was right, spaghetti squash is way better with tomato sauce. It had a bit of a crunch, unlike pasta, but it had a nice mild flavor, and was less bitter than my first try. The sauce was flavorful and delicious, and the added oregano gave if that extra pop of Italian flavor. There was just a hint of added spice from the red peppers. The cheese was perfectly cooked on top, gooey and chewy. This meal was simple and delicious, and definitely brought me to the spaghetti squash side!

What do you think of spaghetti squash? Will you try this baked ziti inspired spaghetti squash Italian bake?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

Garlic Roasted Butternut Squash

I love everything about the fall. The weather, the food, and of course the holidays.  While my birthday and Halloween rank supreme, I can't forget about Thanksgiving.  Now, I see how it can be hypocritical for a vegetarian to celebrate Thanksgiving.  The whole day is based around a big, dead, bird. Don't get me wrong, I get filled with rage when people call the holiday "Turkey day", because this day shouldn't be all about the turkey.  To me, its a day I get to spend with family doing what I love; cooking and eating.

On the menu for Thanksgivng dinner this year will be roasted broccoli, stuffing, pumpkin pie, vegetarian meat loaf, apple dumplings, latkes, and garlic roasted butternut squash.  You might be asking "what about your mashed potatoes???" I have made my famous potatoes for Thanksgiving every year, but I opted to make latkes as my potato this year.  Chankukkah falls during Thanksgiving this year, and I thought it would be nice to have a little Chanukkah food for my family's Thanksgiving/Chanukkah hybrid celebration dinner.



Recipe: Oh She Glows

What you need:



3 1/2 pounds of pealed and cubed butternut squash
Fresh, minced parsley
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt & Pepper

What to do:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine squash, parsley, oil, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.
Mix thoroughly, until all the squash is covered in oil.
Bake in an uncovered dish for 50-55 minutes.













YUM! These were incredible. They were crisp on the outside, and soft and creamy inside. Butternut squash has a naturally mild sweet flavor, which tasted great with the opposing salty flavors. I just love sweet and salty together! The garlic gave it a great taste and made this dish unmistakably savory. I can't wait to make one of my favorite fall fruits again for thanksgiving.

Just a word of warning: research how to peel a butternut squash before you go into this.  I just picked up a knife without knowing what I was doing and it took me 45 minutes to peel.  Ben watched a video on peeling butternut squashes when he made his own, and it look him 10 minutes to peel. Or you can be super lazy and buy it pre-peeled!

What are you going to make for Thanksgiving this year?  Will you be making this butternut squash?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

My Adventures with Spaghetti Squash

I have bad luck buying veggies*.  About a week ago, I decided to cook a zucchini dish for dinner, and I needed 3 zucchinis. The first supermarket I went to had zero, due to a contamination issue. So I had to go to a different supermarket, which had a pretty limited supply.  Shortly after, I found a pesto squash recipe that I wanted to try. I went to the same supermarket that finally had zucchini again, but this time no squash. I didn't know what was up with me, but for some reason I was just unlucky with veggies.  I didn't know what to do, but while I was looking around I spotted spaghetti squash. I heard a lot about this veggie. It is supposed to look and taste like pasta, and its used as a healthy and low carb version for starch. I have been thinking about trying it, and now was as good a time as any.



When I brought them home I was really confused. I didn't know how I was supposed to turn these big round squashes into pasta. I did some quick research to find out how to cook these babies.



I found out preparing these is pretty simple. First you need to pierce them all over to help the steam release when they are cooking. Then just put the whole squash in a baking dish, and pop them in the oven at 375 for an hour.



Once you pull them out of the oven, cut them in half lengthwise. CAREFUL: they are super hot!



You need to remove all of the seeds. I ate a bite with the seeds and it was pretty gross, so those have got to go!



Then, using a fork, scrape out all of the squash meat from the rind.





The squash is really stringy, and definitely does look like spaghetti.

In the spirit of pasta, and taking inspiration from my original pesto squash dish, I decided to eat my spaghetti squash with some pesto sauce.



I thought the squash would taste more mild, like pasta, but it really tasted quite vegetabley.   It was also a lot more crunchy than I thought it would be, much more like onions, not pasta.  It wasn't bad, but not really my thing. I wouldn't say that I have gotten on the spaghetti squash bandwagon.  I read that most people like it with tomato sauce, so I might try it again with that.  However, with buying about 5 boxes of pasta on sale for a dollar, spaghetti squash is much more expensive.  Right now, newly living on my own, I am more concerned with watching the size of my wallet, and not the size of my waist. For now, its gonna be carby pasta for me!

Have you boarded the spaghetti squash train? Any tips for a spaghetti squash newbie?

Bye from the Veggie Side!

*Zucchini and squash are actually considered to be fruits.