Hi Housewives!

The intimidating, obscure yet delectable spaghetti squash.  It’s hard outer layer has long kept most away from enjoying the surprise that lies inside.  I think today’s recipe will help a lot of you come to LOVE this veggie as much as I do because to my surprise most people do not know this “trick” on how to prepare it.  and so today I am sharing that with you.

The traditional way of preparing this is to roast it in the oven which is time consuming and then even so is still extremely hard to cut and most people fear they will end up cutting their hands and fingers off while wrestling with this veggie.

My way is to microwave it which, once tried, will be your way of preparing it too I am sure.  Take your squash and with either a fork or a knife stab it to make little holes or slits throughout all sides of it.  Then place it on a microwave safe plate and cook it for 15 minutes in your microwave. That’s it!!! When done the skin will be soft and you will be able to cut it open with great ease!!!!  But be careful…it will be extremely hot so let it cool for a while or use gloves to cut it open.  I usually cut the ends off first then cut it down the middle.  Use a spoon to remove all the seeds and then with a FORK rake back and forth to remove its flesh in strands….this will give it that spaghetti look! Hence the name!

Once that is done the possibilities are ENDLESS!  You can have it as a side or a substitute for pasta.  You can prepare it with tomato sauce, garlic and oil or even with ground meat.  Whatever you like….one of my favs is to season it with black pepper and add grated cheese….a mock “cacio e pepe” recipe.

This past week a friend of mine prepared it with cherry tomatoes and spinach which when I saw her post it on Facebook drove me to do the same the very next day. LOL  So, I sautéed some garlic and oil then threw in halved cherry tomatoes, spinach and then the squash.  Mix it all together and then enjoy!  I added some grated cheese too.  It was a nice, healthy dish!  This is low cal and great for the diet so enjoy it whenever you can.

RHC