Spaghetti Squash

Who said that spaghetti had to be made of wheat? There are so many great alternatives out there, like rice noodles, buckweat noodles, noodles made from lentils or quinoa, etc.. Another great one is noodles made with spaghetti squash.



 

Spaghetti squash is great; it's so easy to cook and the bonus is all of the good nutritious stuff that goes along with it. Regular wheat pasta doesn't really provide too much other than carbohydrates . Besides, with so many people looking for gluten-free options or who are avoiding wheat this is a great alternative.

So what do you get from the squash? Well, there's folic acid, potassium, vitamin A, and beta-carotene

Most people suggest placing the squash in the oven (either whole or cut in half). I always find that the oven often removes moisture from the squash though and makes it kind of dry. My solution? Using a steamer. I've used it for pumpkin, for other squash, and now the spaghetti squash. I cut the squash in half (well, my husband did - it's really hard!), removed the seeds, and placed both halves into the steamer. It took about 40 minutes or so for it to cook through.

The next step is the fun part - take a fork and scrape out the flesh. There's no trick to it; it'll simply come out in strands that look just like spaghetti.

Toppings can be whatever you want. Whatever you like to put on your pasta regularly will work with spaghetti squash (like the tomato sauce and goat cheese on the picture below).