Spaghetti Squash is Magical

About a year ago now (or so I think)my brother told me about spaghetti squash, something he'd gotten several times in his local CSA basket. I was honestly very skeptical, but I kept it filed away in case I ever ran into the things, which happened about a month ago at the Farmer's Market. I didn't have a recipe or anything then, so I waited until last week, when I was fully prepared, to get the husband to bring home a nice four and a half pounder for the family to chow down on. So, according to one of the nice posters on Cooks.com you:

"Cut squash in half, remove seeds. Bake cut side down in baking pan containing small amount of water. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. After cooking, pull strands free with a fork. Toss with small amount of butter and season to taste. Or serve with your favorite spaghetti sauce and grated Parmesan cheese."

Just so you know, the squash doesn't magically turn into noodle like strands that you just pull out, as I'd somehow convinced myself it did. I pulled the halves out of the oven, expecting some magical transformation and do you know what it looked like? It looked like squash. Amazingly though, when I started running the fork through the inside of the squash, it fell easily apart into little, noodle like strands (and not because the fork was carving them out). I don't know if you're the kind of person to get excited by something like this, but I sure am. I continued to happily scour out the two halves. For that particular night, I tossed the strands with a bunch of butter, salt, and a few shakes of parmesan cheese; and then topped it all off with ground turkey and vodka sauce. It was absolutely delicious (it even impressed my 12-year-old little sister-in-law).There are tons of other recipes out there for spaghetti squash, both as side dishes and as main courses, so get out there and try some! Just a little warning though, if you haven't had it before, like me, the strands are slightly crunchy and do have their own distinct flavor. I'd definitely taste them before going through with anything improvised. So, long story short, this is definitely a veggie I hope to eat more of in the future.