Better than Pasta - Introducing Spaghetti Squash

I love spaghetti squash. I could eat it almost every day. No, really, I could. It's mother nature's idea of noodles - nothing processed, just 100% food. It doesn't get better than that does it?

There are a zillion ways to eat spaghetti squash and I plan on posting a number of recipes, but my favorite simple spaghetti squash recipe is.... Nope not spaghetti squash with pasta sauce, but this tasty little recipe.

1 medium size organic spaghetti squash
2 C organic baby spinach leaves
1/2 C sun-dried tomatoes
Meat of your choice*

*Pork Sausage (free of all the nasty stuff - nitrates, nitrites) or pastured chicken goes well in this dish

A little note: I don't usually use measuring cups when making this dish so all of the above amounts are guestimates. Ultimately, add as much as you want of each of the ingredients. You can also add red onions, black olives, or if you are doing dairy, goat cheese is very tasty in this dish.

Now to the cooking part.

How to cook a spaghetti squash 101. There are several ways to cook a spaghetti squash from microwaving, baking, boiling, and steaming- if you are one that will use a microwave you can microwave a spaghetti squash for about 15 minutes and viola. The caveat is that you have to poke about 2 zillion holes in it or you may very well have a squash explosion and then no dinner. No bueno. Then there is the pesky idea of microwaves themselves, but that's a whole other post.

I personally like to steam it, it takes only about 5-10 minutes longer than a microwave and I feel like I've got control of the food and there is no room for a squash explosion. I will say that I have a vegetable steamer, which makes things pretty easy.

Other ways of cooking a spaghetti squash can be found on the internet - just google "how to cook spaghetti squash".

To steam it:

1. Cut the ends of the squash and then cut the squash in half lengthwise.
2. Remove the seeds
3. If needed cut the squash into pieces until it all the pieces will fit in a steamer
4. Steam for 20 minutes or until the squash is soft (you can easily slide a knife into the squash)
5. Remove the squash and allow it to cool (be careful not to burn yourself on the steam)
6. Scrap a fork along the squash to remove the "spaghetti"and place it in a bowl

To fix the rest of this tasty recipe:

Place the spinach in a skillet with just tiny bit of water, cover and heat on medium until the spinach begins to wilt. Remove the spinach let cool (or you can't wait for it to cool run it under cold water) and squeeze out all of the liquid.

Add the spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and goat cheese to the spaghetti squash, stir, and viola!