LiveSTRONG Day and Spaghetti Squash

For Grandpa Chuck, Mary, Magi, Brent, Kim, Jason

Saturday, October 2, is LiveSTRONG Day 2010. Barbara with winosandfoodies.com has a special project, A Taste of Yellow - Heart Series, to help bring awareness to LiveSTRONG Day and cancer.

Spagetti Squash:
Kid Rating: 2 out of 2 like it (I'll try it on the 5 y.o. later).
Do again?: Yes!


My parents cooked spaghetti squash a couple of times when I was a kid and treated it like spaghetti with sauce. Not a fan. I avoided it until two years ago when friends invited us for dinner. The squash was served simply with butter, salt, and pepper. Yum! I could have eaten the whole bowlful. It's crunchy, not mushy or squashy. Nice flavor.


Ingredients:
Spaghetti squash (today's was 6.5 inches long)
Extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt (or table salt, I've been enjoying the kosher and have a big box of it)
Pepper


Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
Poke holes into top to allow for steam to escape.
Put on baking sheet and bake for 1 hour.

Let cool for 15 or so minutes.
Cut lengthwise.
Remove seeds and mushy, slimy stuff around it
Scrape out the "spaghetti" into a bowl.
Toss with the remaining ingredients.

A blogger friend, Janell at Thufferin Thuccotash - Laughing & Suffering, is looking for yellow food in the shape of a heart. I just happen to be preparing this today, but in consideration of her project, I put the finished product back into one of the shell halves and pinched the edge inward for the shape of the heart. A little clear packing tape on the outside helped it stay in place. For you, Janell!

Family Review:
I should mention that I gave it to them three different ways: 1. plain, 2. with olive oil/salt/pepper, and 3. with butter/salt/pepper. The olive oil won. Plain next. Butter last.
5 y.o. - He didn't try it. You should have seen the face he made. (All in due time, my pretty. All in due time.)
9 y.o. - Plain - "I could do this."-- Olive Oil - "Better." -- Butter - "No! I don't like butter."
10 y.o. - Plain - "Okay." -- Olive Oil - "I like this." -- Butter - "Okay." (but less okay than the plain)
Hubby - not here, but he's eaten it in the past
Me - I like it plain the best (then olive oil). It's crunchy and has it's own sweet taste.


Here's a site for more squash info and recipes: here.