skinny squash

Countdown to Christmas: Day 5

With 19 days left until Christmas here’s hoping you haven’t yet plunged headfirst into a sugar coma.  Much like a marathon the holidays are all about pacing yourself.  It’s easy to get sucked in to the initial excitement of it all, until you realize that you no longer fit into that cute dress you were planning to wear to your Christmas party.  So today is about the food to eat to get you to January while keeping your health & your waistline.

I’ve become a recent convert of squash.  For years I always had people tell me it was great but somehow I never found the appeal.  This year I made a point of trying out the different varieties to see what all the fuss was about.  There’s been mixed reviews overall, but one thing that I found to be really good was spaghetti squash.  

I had always seen my vegetarian friends eating it and swearing up and down that it tasted just like pasta.  Truthfully it doesn’t taste anything like pasta.  But when you cook it the flesh does tear into little noodle like strands (hence the name).  My Dad makes a wicked Jalapeno Creme Spaghetti Squash, proving that it’s more than just a pasta substitute.  As that recipe is horribly fattening I’m choosing to give you one for the more traditional preparation of squash with tomato sauce.  It tastes a lot more exciting than it sounds, and it is super filling and comforting food.  This recipe will feed 2-3 people.

ingredients:

• 1 small spaghetti squash
• olive oil to drizzle
• dried red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 - 20oz can of diced tomatoes (look for ones that don’t list sugar in the ingredients)
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• optional: italian spices to taste

Preheat your oven to 325F. 

Wash your squash & cut it in half. Scoop out all of the seeds, I use a metal spoon and hold it really close to the spoon which makes it really easy to scrape out all the gross stuff. Place both sides of your cut & cleaned out squash in a roasting pan with the cut side up. Drizzle a little olive oil over both halves. This will keep it from drying out when you roast it. Lightly sprinkle on some dried red pepper flakes if you want a bit of spice.

Pop the roasting pan in the oven uncovered and cook for 45 minutes to an hour. When you take it out again test it with a fork. When you scrape at the sides you'll see it shred away and form pasta like strands. You can choose to scoop it all out with a spoon, but it's better if you use something with prongs like a pasta fork. That way the squash will easily transform to "spaghetti" when you scoop it out.

You can top it off with any marinara sauce (the one from Trader Joe's is especially delicious and healthy). But I would recommend making your own so that you can conrol what goes into it.

Dice half an onion and sautée it in olive oil for a minute or so. Add in s clove of minced garlic and give it another stir. Add in a 20oz can of diced tomatoes, a can of tomato paste & a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Give it another stir around, add in a sprinkling of italian spices if desired and allow to simmer for at least 10 minutes. 

Serve your squash in a pasta bowl with the tomato sauce on top.

Voila! An easy, tasty, healthy and super low calorie meal :)