Perfectly roasted spaghetti squash.

I’ll be honest, I’ve always stayed away from the spaghetti squash for some reason, not sure why but it scared me.  My self psycho-analysis is I had this fear because anything that replaces pasta could never compete with the real deal.  But since my new found love of everything healthy, avoiding as many processed foods as possible- one night I bought one and roasted some tomatoes and figured I would suppress my Italian pasta girl and try this with my sauce.  Funny, when I served dinner I asked my husband if he wanted to try it too with sauce and he obliged.  He did half pasta and half squash.  He actually loved it.  YES!  These little victories make me happy.  Another foodie fear conquered.

Ingredients:

1 medium or large size spaghetti squash, halved with the inner seeds/pulp removed (best by using a large spoon)
3 tablespoons or so of good olive oil
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line your baking sheet with a Silpat baking liner.  Place the squash cut side up on the sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Bake for 50 minutes.  Remove and let cool enough to handle.  Take a fork and start scraping the inner flesh of the squash.  It will begin to look like pasta noodles.  Dump this into a bowl and you can top with additional olive oil, cheese or as I do with my red sauce (using it as a pasta substitute).

— Knead to Cook