Thursday, October 17, 2013

The Great Spaghetti Squash Encounter of 2013


Pasta.


I swear I was a plump ole Italian lady in a previous life. I love pasta. There was a point in my life where I probably bled Alfredo sauce. That right there was a big factor in why I was overweight. You know those lipton pasta meals? I'd make two and eat them both and add chicken! Yeah, you have no idea how embarrassing it is to admit that. Hell the main thing I cooked was chicken alfredo and garlic bread. I even made home made alfredo sauce!!

Welcome to calorie city, population my thighs.

I always thought I was going to have the hardest time giving up pasta or limiting it, but surprisingly, nope not at all! I hardly eat pasta of any type and haven't had chicken alfredo at any point during my lifestyle change, not because I've forced my self, I just don't crave it really.

I kept hearing and seeing Spaghetti squash recipes all over. 

A vegetable that takes the place of yummy fattening pasta?!? 


No way Jose!

Well being an adventurous skeptic, I picked up on of those bad boys at Dillons.


We had a 10 minute stare off in the kitchen before I brutally murdered it with my knife. He was a tough skin little jerk. I told him he was only an impostor....he promised he'd be better. His death was a sacrifice for my health... ( I'm tired as I write this so don't judge me...) 

So I cut the bad boy in half, cut off the stem, preheated my oven to 375, put a cup of water in to a cake pan, scooped the guts out of the squash and put them in cut side up. Cooked for an hour. Then I let them cool off for a good 20 minutes. Next using a fork I scraped out the "noodles".


I was hesitant, 
but I doused them little worms with organic marinara sauce and took the plunge...

IT WAS FREAKING DELICIOUS!!!!!!



Holy hot damn, I didn't know what I was missing!

This is a definite new favorite, I made up some meals for my lunches and one includes, spaghetti squash, organic marinara sauce, green peppers, red onions, and 3 Turkey Meatball Muffins and all of that is right under 300 calories. Regular pasta is 200 calories a serving, plus 100 calorie sauce  so this is already a winner!

Anyone have any great recipes using spaghetti squash?!

-J

5 comments:

  1. I like to use it with stir fry. It's really good.

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  2. Ooooh yum! This looks good - and easy (the most important factor)

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  3. Yum I love spaghetti squash.. you can also take a veggie peeler and make ribbons of zucchini to use as noodles. Saute and top.. yum!

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  4. Hey there! New follower here. I've been wanting to jump on the Spag Squash bandwagon too but have been hesitant. I think I'm going to add it to my menu next week though. Thanks for a recipe!

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  5. I'm a new follower catching up on your journey! I buy the light alfredo sauce from Walmart and make chicken alfredo with the spaghetti squash. I've also made a cheesy spinach bake with it that had me drooling! I can't remember the original recipe, but it either came from Pinterest or skinnytaste.com. This is one of my faves!

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