Spaghetti Squash and Meat Sauce

I must first apologize for moving blog pages. I found out a little to late that Word press has more and better options then Google.  So please bare with me. I promise I won’t be moving anymore.  Ok, now on with my story.

I was at Trader Joe’s, surprise, surprise and I picked up a spaghetti squash, never had one, so this is new to me.  Check out the life of a spaghetti squash in my kitchen and this recipe.

 

Spaghetti Squash and Meat Sauce Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Spaghetti Squash – pricked with a skewer
1/2 lbs. of pound of lean ground beef.
1/3 cup Onion – diced
1 clove of Garlic – chopped small or minced
1 large or two small Bell Pepper – diced
1 Zucchini – diced (I cut into half moons)
1 large Tomato – diced
1/2 Tbsp. of Olive Oil
1 can of Tomato Sauce
Basil – 10 leafs sliced thin
1/2 Tbsp. Italian Seasoning

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375

Prick the Squash several times with a skewer or knife. Place on a baking dish and bake for 1 hour.

Once squash is done, set a side till it cools. Once cool enough to handle, cut in half and scrape out the seeds and pulp. With a fork, scrape the squash into strands. Place on plate and top with pasta.

Meanwhile, you can start your pasta sauce.

In a large sauce pan add your garlic and ground beef cook until lightly brown. Add onion, peppers, zucchini, Italian Seasoning, and 5 of your basil leafs, tomatoes, and Olive oil and cook until tender. At this point I decided I wanted sauce sauce so I added 1 can of Hunts Tomato Sauce. Cook until warmed and veggies are all tender. Add remaining basil..

Serve over Spaghetti Squash or Pasta and top with cheese.

The Ingredients:  You like the purple bell pepper?  It’s sweet and yummy!  I like new and different things!  That’s a basket full of tomatoes from my garden.  There’s more to be picked, but I’m to lazy to do it.

 

The pricked spaghetti squash before it went in the oven for 1 hour.

 

This is the squash when it came out of the oven.  I sliced it in half and it broke right open.  So weird!

 

Ok, now it’s time to scrape out the seeds and center pulp.  Hope I can find it in there.

 

Ok, all scraped, check out my plate.  Looks like pasta.  But the taste will be the real proof.

 

Here is the meat sauce cooking up in the pan.  It smells so delish!

 

Ok, it’s all done, and plated.  Ok, the true test is here, how does it taste?  Amazing!  I can’t believe how good it tastes.  My family missed out!  My hubby had whole wheat pasta and I had this!  He just doesn’t like any kind of squash.  He even picked out the zucchini in the pasta dish.  He doesn’t know what he is missing out on.

 

I am really impressed with this dish!  This is really good for someone who is watching there carbs.  Now the stats.  By the way this recipe serves 3 big dishes or 4 small dishes.  Also I had lots of squash left over, especially since I am the only one to eat it.  I guess I am having left overs for dinner tomorrow.

Calories:  243

Total fat:  6.4

Saturated fat:  2.1

Polyunsaturated fat:  .5g

Monounsaturated fat:  1.7

Cholesterol:  46.7

Potassium:  665.1mg (nice!)

Total carbs:30.2 (Awesome!)

Fiber:  7.1g

Sugar:  9.8g

Protein:  20g

Benefits of Spaghetti Squash:

Apart from these nutrients, spaghetti squash contains omega-3 essential fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids. While the former is good for preventing heart disease, cancer and inflammation caused by arthritis, the latter promotes brain function. It contains many vitamins and minerals, which are required for proper functioning of the body. Recent researches suggest that spaghetti squash is good for prostate health and it can also be used in the treatment of benign prostrate enlargement. Spaghetti squash is very rich in beta carotene, which can prevent atherosclerosis and is also beneficial for people with insulin resistance. While potassium helps to lower blood pressure, folate is good for preventing damage of blood vessel walls. Folate is also beneficial for pregnant women as it can prevent some types of birth defects in the baby. Spaghetti squash is a good source of vitamin A and vitamin C and both are antioxidants, which can prevent cell damage. The B vitamins in spaghetti promote proper cellular function.

Compare Stats to Whole Wheat Pasta:  1 cup cooked!

Spaghetti Squash:          Whole Wheat Pasta

Calories        41                 173

Fat               .4                   .8

Cholestrol     0                   0

Sodium        27.9              4.2

Potassium   181.4             6.1

Carbs          10                  37.2

Fiber           2.2                 6.3

Sugar          3.9                  0

Protein        1                  7.5

I like the fact that it’s less calories and less carbs then pasta and you can eat more!  Think if you ate 3 cups of squash, it would still beat the stats of pasta, now that’s “Good Eats!”  Try it out and let me know what you think!! I’m curious to whom will switch to the other side and try Spaghetti Squash.  Buwahaha….

Enjoy!