Spaghetti Squash

I took this picture with my phone and it's a horrible picture, but you get the idea!

Tonight I attempted spaghetti squash. We are on day 13 of the Daniel fast and I needed a change big time! I have always seen stuff about this type of squash, but never wanted to try it since I don't really like squash very much. I have to say I was quite impressed. I fully expected to just hold my nose and swallow it whole, but I would make this again for sure. In fact I might even trade all pasta we cook at home for this and save the real pasta for when we go out to eat at Mirko (Best pasta I have had in the states. Tastes exactly like Italy!). It was easy to make and saved us about 180 calories per cup and roughly 35 carbs per cup. You can't beat that!

The sauce I added to it was a simple tomato sauce. I can't have anything with sugar right now and most sauces call for sugar so what I did was swap the water I was planning on using for some 100% organic sweet apple juice. It did the trick!

Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Sauce

1 spaghetti squash

1 can of tomato paste

1 large can of crushed tomatoes

1 1/2 cups of Martinelli's Apple Juice

2 cups of baby spinach

2 cups of baby bella mushrooms

1/2 cup of kalamata olives pitted and cut in halves

2 garlic cloves crushed (I use my microplane and it works wonders)

2 table spoons of italian herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary)

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Add all the ingredients above except for the squash to a sauce pan and cook on med-low for about 30 minutes. Stir often. Once you have the sauce going, cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. (this takes a big knife and some muscles!). Remove the seeds just like removing them from a pumpkin. Lay the cut side up and microwave for 10 minutes. When it's done pull it out and let it cool until the sauce is done. Once you are able to touch it, take fork and pull down lengthwise. You will see the strands start to come out. Put that on your plate, add sauce, and there you go!