I love Spaghetti Squash

We love spaghetti squash at our house. Well technically we love all kinds of squash, zucchini...acorn...butternut...you name it we love it and eat it a lot. I realize that it is more of a winter type of veggie, but well hey it still feels like winter here in Iowa so I guess we will continue to roll with it.

There are a lot of people who are scared to cook squash because they have never done it before...spaghetti squash is super easy and a great replacement for potatoes if you are looking for something different. Plus their are great health benefits.

To cook your spaghetti squash it is very simple, but you need to be very careful and use a sharp knife because cutting through the squash can be a little scary. Preheat your oven to 400, if you have a convection oven keep it at 400 don't drop it the 25 degrees like the manuals state. Start with a hole spaghetti squash with no blemished on the outside, cut it in half and remove the seeds with a tablespoon. I scrape down a little into the meat to make sure I get all of the seed gunk out. Yes seed gunk is a technical term. Take a rimmed baking sheet and line it with parchment, if you don't have parchment no worries just spray lightly with cooking spray. Place the two sides cut side down and wrap tightly with foil. Bake for 50-55 minutes.

Now is the fun part, let your squash cool slightly then turn over and using a fork run through the meat in the squash creating spaghetti like strings. Dump the strings into a bowl and enjoy. Ok so maybe not that quick. I love it that way but there are a lot of people that need to dress it up a little bit so here are some of our favorite ways.

1. Simple - Butter, garlic salt and pepper
2. Creamy - Mix skim milk, butter and lowfat cream cheese in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30-45 seconds pour over the squash and cover with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, stir and enjoy.
3. Cheesy - Create a roux based cheese sauce and mix into the spaghetti squash then put back in the oven for 10 minutes to seal in all that cheesiness!