“Who ever heard of spaghetti squash?” I asked, astounded. That’s not really a thing, is it? At the time I was talking to a friend about carbs and different things that could be used to replace some of the carb-heavy foods that is in most Americans’ diets. In an effort to gradually replace some foods that might not be so great for my family with alternatives, I was just curious. When she told me about spaghetti squash, I really didn’t give it much thought. After all, we actually like regular ol’ squash . . . you know, the kind that you bake in the oven with lots of butter and brown sugar in the autumn and winter months . . . . but spaghetti squash really didn’t sound all that appealing to me. So I kind of forgot about it. For a long time.
Then, the other day, my girls and I were talking about making some substitutions in our regular grocery purchases, including trying almond milk to limit dairy intake, and trying a recipe for baked zucchini chips (which didn’t turn out so great the first time, but we’re going to give it another go because we LOVE zucchini!). One of my girls (guess who???) suddenly announced, “Let’s try spaghetti squash!” Hmmmm . . . .where have I heard that before?
Well, I’m up for a new adventure and challenge, even in the area of cooking occasionally, so when I went to the grocery store I bought one spaghetti squash. ONE. Just in case. But then, I was thinking, “I don’t have any idea what I should actually do with this thing so that we can try to eat it.” So it sat on the kitchen counter for two days, while I kept hoping that the genius daughter who suggested that we try spaghetti squash would help me figure out how to cook it. No such luck. Too many other important things to do (I get that!), so Mama decided to figure it out on her own.
There’s ONE spaghetti squash currently cooking in the oven. Still don’t know what I’m going to do with it once it is cooked, so I decided to look up some ideas of different ways to serve spaghetti squash. And WOW was I surprised at how many different recipes I found! Apparently you can do just about anything with spaghetti squash that you can do with pasta spaghetti noodles. Here are a few of the recipes that I found . . . . I’ll let you know how ours turns out tonight and we’ll decide whether we like it or not.
The hardest part so far was cutting the silly thing open! It’s as hard (almost) as a rock, and I couldn’t quite figure out how to cut the squash without slicing off my hand in the process. Eventually I stuck the huge chopping knife into the side and once I had it lodged firmly in the squash, I picked it up and whacked it down on the cutting board. I opened up alright! That’s probably not the best way to do it, but since this was an experiment, I felt rather successful. I’ll figure out the cutting part next time. If there is a next time!
How to Cook Spaghetti Squash
Pesto Parmesan Spaghetti Squash from Shape.com
Spaghetti Squash with Tomatoes, Spinach + Garlic from Purely Elizabeth
Spaghetti Squash . . . Spaghetti from Trusty Chucks
Four Cheese Garlic Spaghetti Squash from Recipes BNB
Spaghetti Squash Chicken Parmesan from Shape.com
Well, there you have a few new (to me) ideas of what to do with spaghetti squash. Our ONE spaghetti squash is baking in the oven right now, and I can begin to detect a roasted, yummy squash smell coming from the kitchen as I try to finish writing this blog post. We might just go with regular plain ol’ tomato spaghetti sauce on top tonight, just to see. We’re not exactly adventurous or very brave when it comes to trying new foods, so I’ll be sure to report back on how it turned out.
If you ever read my blog, you know that cooking is just about at the bottom of my list of favorite things to do . . . I’d be happy eating a peanut butter sandwich for supper pretty much every night (that way I don’t have a messy kitchen to clean up!) . . . . but I’m doing my best to feed my family and not lose my mind. I’ll let you know if spaghetti squash is going to help me with that task. I hope you can join us for this week’s Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party. That is actually one of the things that I really do love to do each week, and I would love to connect with YOU at this week’s party. Hope to see you there!
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Please join us for this week’s
Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party

Katherine-Katherines Corner
Nina-Vintage Mamas Cottage
Marilyn-Marilyns Treats
Bev-Eclectic Red Barn
Angelina- Petite Haus
Theresa Begin – Shoestring Elegance