Not a pasta, spaghetti squash!

So the main things that you miss on a low carb diet are most likely bread, potatoes and pasta. PASTA!!!!!! At my bachelorette party dinner, for the first time I ever, I tried spaghetti squash. I was so obsessed with it that I ordered a second side to eat all by myself, and then dreamt about this pasta-like goodness for weeks. I figured it'd be way too time consuming to make and probably involved a cheese grater or a fancy pasta maker--neither of which I have any time for. I guess I have time for a cheese grater but you get what I'm saying.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, I'm sipping on some pumpkin beer with Louis and our friend Jeremy (who is a fantatsic cook), and he tells us that he is having spaghetti squash for dinner. He assured me that making these noodles was not as daunting as I imagined, and convinced me to give it a try. Five stores later, I was on my way home, legs bruised from the ten pound squash slamming into me after each step. Since I was trying this for the first time, I decided to serve the spaghetti as a side dish along with a pot roast. That way if it didn't turn out, well, we still had the roast.

Here's what you need:
1 spaghetti squash
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup almond milk
3 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of corn starch (add more or less depending on desired thickness)
chopped garlic (alot)
medium to large bunch of broccoli
1/4 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
crushed red pepper (optional)

Here's what you do:
FIRST: Poke holes with a knife in a few places on the squash to avoid an EXPLOSION. Obviously, very important so don't forget.
Bake at 375 for 1 hour
When it's done, cut in half.
Gently scoop out the seeds and gooey part of the pulp. You can use a fork, wooden spoon, or your hands - I did all three.
Removed the rest of the pulp with a fork, it comes out really easily and somehow looks just like noodles!

*Continue with whatever sauce or veggies you'd like...I did broccoli with white wine butter sauce--
Sautee broccoli and half of the garlic in olive oil for 10 minutes or until done.
Add squash.
In a seperate pot (not shown), heat butter, the rest of the garlic, almond milk, white wine, and spices. When butter has melted, whisk in corn starch until there are no lumps.
Then quickly pour sauce over the spaghetti.
Stir in parmesan and feta cheese.
Top with parmesan cheese!

(See below for regular spaghetti recipe)

We enjoyed ours with the pot roast and had the other half the next day for lunch.

Louis and I were both so surprised at how great this was. I thought maybe after eating it two days in a row I'd be sick of it, but I wasn't. It really has such a similar texture to angel hair, and satisfies my pasta craving without leaving me stuffed and overloaded on carbs.

A few days later I found a smaller squash at trader joes, and we used almost all of it for dinner. We had a little left over for 1 lunch.

This time I did a pretty standard spaghetti recipe. I browned 1 pound of ground turkey with garlic, then mixed in chopped spinach, basil, and spaghetti sauce. When the sauce was warm, I added the squash.

Just like regular noodles, you can fix this pretty much however you want. We're having it this week with steak tips and vegetables and I'd like to try it with an asian stir fry as well. If you bake it in advance, which I did the second time, it makes for a super fast dinner.

Have you tried spaghetti squash?? If so, how did you serve it??