All Squash Are Not Created Equal

Let me tell you a story, about a girl, who's never had spaghetti squash.. Until now.

First of all, I told ya'll I was meal planning this week. Basically I spent hours creating a pretty little sheet and then filled it out. I sat down with my calendar and figured out what days I'd have to eat easy meals, what nights I wasn't going to be home, etc. etc. Here's what it looked like when it was all said and done..

This is a guideline for what I'm eating this week. I should point out that it's not set in stone and I can change things whenever I want. For instance, I had a bagel and banana this morning instead of yogurt, granola, and grapes. I'm not gonna sweat it.

Using this sheet, I made a grocery list and went to the store. You'll notice on Monday I was going to make spaghetti squash. Well, I had never eaten spaghetti squash. It was going to be a new experience for me and I was really excited to try it.. Then I got to the grocery store..

I couldn't find the spaghetti squash and when I finally found it, they were not what I was expecting. But they were clearly labeled, so I did a quick shoulder shrug, grabbed two and went home.

When Sunday rolls around I start panicking about my squash. So I do what any other 23 year old does.. I called my mom.

momma and i circa 1994ish

My poor mother. She gets the best cooking calls from me. I called once and said "I bought raw chicken, now what?" True story. Anyway, I was really worried about my squash. So I called her, got advice, and continued on.

Monday rolls around, time for me to conquer cook this squash. Just to check, I hope on Google and search "how to cook spaghetti squash". And not one article said the same thing. 425 degree oven for 30 min. Microwave for 7 min and 35 seconds (because i'm really sure those extra 5 seconds count). 350 degree oven for 45 min to 90 min. That's when I panicked. Excuse me, what? 45 min to 90 min? That's a pretty big time frame, buddy. So I called mom again.

my mom and stepdad this past spring right before my stepdad dropped about 40lbs. and yes, my mom is old enough to be the parent of a child in their 20s. she gets that a lot. she loves it.

Because even if my mom says something completely different than Google, she's my mom, so whatever she says wins. 9 times out of 10 I go with her cooking advice over a recipe's and 10 times out of 10 her way works just fine.

So I selected 375 degree oven. If it was a regular sized spaghetti squash, it'd need about an hour. Mine was not. I apparently selected the smallest spaghetti squash anyone has ever seen, yay me. So I choose about 30-45 minutes.

First I cut it in half, and scooped out the seeds.

For anyone who doesn't know, scooping out the seeds is exactly like scooping the seeds out of a pumpkin. I used a scoop and just scraped them out. Easy peasey.

Then I placed them on a cookie sheet to bake. Just the way they were. Uncovered with no oil or anything on it. Mom told me to.

When they came out I waited for them to cool enough so that I could hold and and I took a fork to the inside. Going from stem to stern.

Then I had a pretty plateful..

The shells looked a little burnt on the bottom once I scraped all of the stuff out, but I don't know if that was wrong or right. Nothing tasted burnt, so I think it's fine.

I ate it with spaghetti sauce, chicken sausage, and mushrooms..

Verdict? I liked it. I didn't love it. I think I need to get used to it. Also, it wasn't pasta and it didn't taste like pasta, so as a pasta substitute, it'd be a bad one. I love me some carbs and so I guess in that way it was a little disappointing. The texture also surprised me. I thought it'd be a lot more.. mushy? Does that make sense? But it wasn't. It was actually kind of crunchy. Not like a raw carrot or something, but it definitely has a crunch factor to it.

I know that's sort of a ho hum post about spaghetti squash, so I'll leave you with this..

Last night I made Skinny Taste's Baked Spaghetti Squash and Cheese (inspired by Kassie's post about it) and it was amazing. I'm serious, it was SO good. No pictures because I was too busy stuffing my face enjoying it. If you're still on the fence about spaghetti squash, try this recipe. Trust me. If you still don't like this one, you're not going to like spaghetti squash.