Spaghetti Squash

Now that my family is eating healthier, I am trying to find ways to make our favorite dishes more figure friendly.  One of my guys menu favorites is spaghetti.  The problem is all those calories and carbohydrates in that pasta.  So this week I swapped out regular pasta noodles for spaghetti squash.

The first time I heard about replacing pasta with a spaghetti squash I thought it would be complicated.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  It is so simple to prepare and it tastes really good, even my son likes it.

I won't lie to you; it doesn't taste like pasta, but it really is good.  And it gives you that great base you need for your spaghetti sauce.

So, without further ado, here are the instructions for cooking perfect spaghetti squash.

• Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise.
• Place, face down in a microwave safe dish.
• Cook on high for 12 minutes.
• Let it cool just a bit, until you can handle it.
• Scoop out seeds and discard.
• Hold up by stem and scrap out the "noodles."
• Repeat with other half.
• Sprinkle with some season salt.

Does it really get any more simple than that?  You can serve any kind of sauce over your squash "noodles."  I usually just stir my "noodles" into my sauce.

As for servings:  There are three of us and my guys are pretty hearty eaters.  One medium to large spaghetti squash provides plenty and we usually have leftovers.  

One cup of spaghetti squash has 31 calories as compared to one cup of regular pasta spaghetti noodles, which contains 211 calories.