When I first started low-carbing it, I kept hearing about spaghetti squash and how you can TOTALLY replace spaghetti with spaghetti squash and YOU CAN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE! They lied. All those people lied. It tastes like squash.. so get the whole "it can replace pasta idea" out of your head.. except.. well, it's damn good in all kinds of pasta preparations.. but don't expect it to taste like pasta. It's squash for fuck's sake. So..

I did some reading about cooking this thing. I knew I could bake it like I do pumpkins (it's squash.. remember?) but I was impatient and I wanted it NOW! So the interwebs said.. Poke it with a knife! Put it on a pie plate! Microwave that sucker! So I did.. And this is what happened.

After digging out the seeds and scraping out the strands, I finally ate this and said to myself, self? This sucks... this does not taste like pasta. And vowed to never ever cook it again. Until I did. I mean I was not about to be conquered by a vegetable. And I kept seeing all kinds of primal/paleo recipes on this squash so I decided to give it another go. Somewhere along the line, I ran into this method of cooking which eliminated all my explody problems. Cut the squash in half. I use Alton Brown's method of a big ass knife and a mallet. Although I don't have a mallet so I use this.

Scrape the seeds out. I use my ice cream spade that was gifted to me by the spousal unit when I bought an ice cream maker that I was going to use all the time to make ice cream. Do not ask me where all the parts are, because I haven't seen them in years. Probably up on the shelf with the pasta machine and fondue pot.. but I digress.

If you make a lot of squash, I recommend buying one of these. The shape is perfect for getting a ton of seeds and guts at once. Put the squash, cut side down in a microwave safe baking dish and add about 1/4 inch of water. Microwave on high for about 5 minutes. Poke the shell with your finger.. does it have any give? No? Nuke the bastard again.. nuke it into submission. My medium sized squash took about 10 minutes. I flipped it over and gave it a squeeze so you could see how the flesh gives when it's done. If it's underdone it's not so yummy.. so go for overdone rather than underdone.. the crafty bastard will fool you.

Grab a fork and scrape out the flesh. It will come out in strands which is why they call it spaghetti squash.. which is exactly where the resemblance ends.

So! now you have all this yummy squashy bits.. what are you going to do with them? Ironically, for all of my bitching about how this is NOT spaghetti, it's really good with anything in a tomato sauce. I eat it with chili or sloppy joe filling or straight up meat sauce. Lucky for you, I have done some research for you (and for me because I love to try new things) Check out this pin board on Pinterest for all kinds of nifty ideas. I'm particularly interested in these Spaghetti Squash cakes and this Spaghetti squash with pecans, Gorgonzola and dried cherries... and this recipe for Spaghetti squash with roasted Brussels sprouts and chickpeas incorporates three of my favorite ingredients!