Winter is quickly approaching (at least, that’s what they tell me, but it’s supposed to reach 80 degrees here today). As much as I hate winter, I’m definitely looking forward to the return of winter produce, especially squash. I don’t know how I survived the first 25 years or so of my life without eating it. And yet, somehow, I had still never made spaghetti squash. I suppose it was because I was too busy making butternut squash lasagna and baked acorn squash and summer squash salad.
This year, I decided that was going to change. I was going to try cooking spaghetti squash.
I mentioned this to Cynthia on a recent tea date and she recommended this recipe for Baked Spaghetti Squash – Lasagna Style. As I always do when using recipes from All Recipes, I read some of the comments and adjusted my meal accordingly. I added about 10 ounces of ricotta cheese that we happened to have and baked it in an 8×8 pan instead of the squash shells.
I was surprised by how easy it was to remove the squash from the shell. I had always imagined that it took a decent amount of elbow grease, but it really was as simple as dragging my fork through the squash after baking it.
The end product was delicious. Of course it wasn’t exactly like lasagna, but it encompassed all those Italian flavors that I love. When I make this recipe again, I’ll probably use my favorite tomato sauce instead of making the sauce recommended in the recipe because the dish turned out more watery than I’d prefer. Now that I know how easy it is to make spaghetti squash I guarantee it will be making more appearances in my kitchen this winter.
We love spaghetti squash here. It is so easy to prepare. Actually the way the kids like it best is when I just bake it cut side down on a baking sheet, after seasoning with salt and pepper. Scrape the cooked squash out and serve with a little butter and grated Parmesan.
That sounds delicious! I’m looking forward to trying out more spaghetti squash creations, so thanks for the tip.