Squashin' it

Spaghetti Squash.  I'm not going to lie to you.  It doesn't taste like spaghetti.  Some (people on diets) may try to tell you it does, but I assure you you won't be mistaking a bowl of spaghetti squash for pasta unless you have the taste buds of a 90 year old or it's smothered in sauce.

Now that I've gotten that disclaimer out of the way, let's talk about the spaghetti squash for what it is.  The spaghetti squash is unique in that it has a noodle like texture.  I was introduced to it a few years ago, and it's definitely been a great fall go to.  Depending on where you buy spaghetti squash, it can be a little pricey, especially if you pay per pound.  I bought mine at Trader Joe's, for I want to say $2.99.  One thing I like about Trader Joe's is that all the veggies are a set price, no weighing involved.

Typically with spaghetti squash I've seen people try to pretend it's pasta and smother it with tomato sauce.  However, I am going to show you a vegan dish which celebrates the squash for what it is!  You'll need:

Ingredients

• 1 spaghetti squash, cooked (see below for directions)
• 1/3 cup Italian Dressing (I use Fanny's Lite Italian)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• red pepper flake (I use a lot on mine as usual!)

First, let's talk about how you cook this thing.  There are several ways to cook a spaghetti squash including a microwave (easy right?).  We don't have a microwave in our home so I'll be cooking mine in the oven.

The trickiest part is cutting this baby in half, I'm terrible at this so I don't really have any help for you there.  Once you have your squash cut in half you'll notice the ewwy gooey innards of the squash is similar to a pumpkin.  Take a spoon and scoop that all that out.  Heat your oven to 375 and cook your squash for about 40 minutes.  You can brush each side with olive oil or seasoning if you'd like, but I'm opting not to since I'm going to add dressing later.

Once your squash is cooked you're going to have to manhandle it, so let it cool! When it's a comfortable temperature to touch, take a fork and scrap the inside of you're squash.  You'll notice when you do this the texture of the squash is stringy, like spaghetti.  Hey that's where the name comes from!

I gathering my squash innards (yummy) in a dish and tossed with the dressing, nutritional yeast and red pepper flake.  I think this makes a great side dish, however I served this as our dinner so I added some veggies and protein.  You can add anything you want, I think peas are a nice addition to the squash.  For our dinner I added peas and Beyond Chicken strips.  Beyond Chicken is one of my favorite chicken alternatives, plus a serving is 120 calories and 20 grams of protein! (Hey that's how vegetarians get their protein, huh!
So here it is, a nice healthy fall meal that is primarily vegetables.  We went apple picking earlier in the day so we have an endless supply of apple crisp in our future.  We also grabbed some wine from the winery at the orchard as well!

 I love fall.