Cheap thrills

Ever heard the expression ‘take pleasure in the little things in life’?  Well clearly I take it very seriously because when I saw spaghetti squash being sold at Waitrose, I squealed with delight.  Okay not really but I was pretty excited.  Oddly enough, my mom did not seem to share (or understand) my thrill…cheap thrills, people, cheap thrills!

Considering butternut squash is amongst my favorite veggies, it’s only right to show some lovin’ to a fellow family member.   For being so immensely low in calories, it is pretty high on nutrition.

As a major pasta lover, I was doubtful when I read that spaghetti squash is a good substitute for spaghetti.  Truth be told, once cooked, the flesh has quite a stringy texture and actually reminded me of vermicelli noodles. Other than the seed scooping and muscle power required for cutting open this bad boy, it was ridiculously easy to prepare:

1) Using the biggest knife you own, cut the squash in half lengthwise

2) Further cut the squash into quarters and scrape out the seeds and pulp as you would with any squash or pumpkin

3) Set the oven to 185*C  and place it face down on an oven tray.  Coat it with olive or oil or spray oil and bake it in the oven for 45-60 minutes.

or till it looks like:

4) Separate the strands of flesh using a fork.  If cooked properly, the strands will come out easily

5) Ta-da!

Once cooked, you can add as many or as little seasoning as you like.  I went down the hummus and hot sauce route (sidebar: hummus makes an excellent pasta sauce!)  Other ‘sauces’ I would use in future:

• guacamole+salsa for a little Mexican kick
• marinara sauce and cheese…because cheese tastes good on everything
• cottage cheese
• pesto
• peanut butter (duh!)

…I hear plain ol’ buttah & salt makes an excellent add-in too :)!

What’s the last vegetable/food you tried?