Spaghetti Squash

So this is half of a wonderful thing, a spaghetti squash. I decided to post this when my neighbor told me she had never heard of one. I must admit, my husband introduced them to me this winter. It was love with one bite. And they are super easy to prepare.
Spaghetti squash look like a more oblong melon. To cook them, it's super easy to roast it. Stay with me, when my husband first said, "Can you roast chicken for dinner?" I freaked out. I thought that it would be an intense preparation that could not be easy or quick. I was wrong. This is both easy and quick (as it is with chicken as well).





So first you scoop out the middle part. It's very reminiscent of a pumpkin.

Discard that. No one wants to eat that. If you are super eco-friendly, then you could put it in your compost pile. Why I wish I were, I am not that environmentally good.
 Then, you will want to slather the halves in butter and then sprinkle with salt and pepper.

It looks gross I know, but the butter will break up the fibrousy goodness in there.
Place it on a cookie sheet, and pop it in the oven at about 350. Until it looks like this:

Notice how I can squish it with my hand. I tested it with tongs first. I can't tell you how long this takes exactly because the size of each squash will vary somewhat, thus changing the time. About 20 minutes. The great and easy thing about this is that you can be doing everything else you need to while it's cooking and not really even think about it. Once it's out of the oven, it's almost ready.

Take a fork and scrape out the inside. It will come out in strands, like noodles. Vegetarians wil sometimes use this as a noodle substitute. It's crunchy and fun. You can add some feta, nuts raisens or scalloins to dress it up or serve it as is. I like mine simple. Enjoy!