Meatless Monday: Giveaway Winner + The Perfect Spaghetti Squash

Happy Meatless Monday! 

I have a giveaway winner!  The winner is entry number 25, so the 25th entry(skipping my own comments about your favorite meals of course) is Lindsay from The Lean Green Bean!

See, those extra twitter entries really helped!  I’ve already emailed you, Lindsay.  Let me know if you didn’t get the email!!

On to the spaghetti squash!

Have we all had Spaghetti Squash before?  If not, you should most definitely try it!!

Spaghetti squash is a winter squash, and when it’s cooked the flesh falls away in strands that look like spaghetti.  And it clocks in at only 42 calories per cup!

I’m about to give you THE perfect way to cook a spaghetti squash. 

Are you ready?  I mean really get ready, because this will possibly blow your mind…

Take your spaghetti squash…

And cut it in half widthwise, NOT lengthwise (this is where my tutorial differs from others!). 

Scoop out all of the seeds and the stringy things.  Place both halves on a plate and cover with saran wrap.

Place in microwave and cook for 10-15 minutes until you can easily pierce through it with a knife. (depending on the size of your spaghetti squash it may take a little longer)

Let cool for a few minutes until you can handle the squash, then carefully scrape out the strands with a fork.

My favorite way to eat spaghetti squash is with steamed veggies (usually broccoli) and covered in my favorite spaghetti sauce!  And with a big hunk of bread on the side of course!!

I know what you’re possibly thinking right now.  But every other tutorial on spaghetti squash says I should cut my spaghetti squash in half LENGTHwise!  And to that I say no no no!

Here’s why you should cut your spaghetti squash in half widthwise instead of lengthwise…

• you’ll get longer prettier strands!!  (look at the inside of a spaghetti squash- have you ever noticed that the strands don’t run lengthwise?  They run in a circle around the width of the squash)
• it’s easier to cut in half when you cut it this way.
• it cooks faster (when I cut it lengthwise it takes me around 30 minutes to cook it, this took me 10!)
• you can cook both halves in the microwave at once! (you can’t really do that when you cut it in half lengthwise- unless you have a really big microwave)

We eat spaghetti squash like it’s going out of style around here!  So much food for so few calories- I can totally get on board with that!!

What does everyone else top their spaghetti squash with??