Spaghetti squash perfect for date night

I had heard about spaghetti squash before, and especially given my new love for low-carb noodles made with vegetables (okay fine, technically fruit), I finally decided to try it.

The first thing I noticed: this is one tough fruit to cut. It’s almost like cutting and carving a pumpkin.

I cut the squash in half, removed the seeds, and baked it, flesh-side down at 350 degrees F, based on a recipe I found online.  But I never follow recipes exactly– not because I’m trying to be unique, but because I don’t believe that recipes need to be followed exactly all the time, and I don’t have the patience to do so. I like to go with the flow and add or substitute ingredients based on my preference. I essentially use recipes for ideas and as a guide.

This particular recipe called for baking the spaghetti squash for 30 minutes. I did that, and the strands of squash were not soft enough, as a I later found out. According to the comments on the recipe, you probably need to bake the squash longer than that.

As the squash baked, I cooked garlic, onions and tomatoes in olive oil per the recipe, and I threw in some spinach and baby kale at the end. Once the squash was baked, I pulled it out of the oven, and used a fork to scrape out the noodle-like strands from the flesh. I mixed in my other veggies, and topped it with a little bit of cheese.

Overall, I found that the spaghetti squash, makes for a cute dinner for two since it allows for great presentation. The squash is used as the bowl and one squash cut in half is an ideal, filling meal for two. There’s definitely enough meat in each half of fruit to fill you up, plus you’re adding more filling. However, cutting and cooking the squash took more effort than spiralizing zucchini or yellow squash, so my vote still goes to the latter for a quick mid-week meal, while the former is perfect for a date night.