Spaghetti Squash with Tomatoes, Olives and Feta

The challenge: Spaghetti Squash.  Allegedly my mom made spaghetti squash once upon a time when I was a kid, but I don’t remember that at all.  So, as far as I’m concerned, I’d never had spaghetti squash before today.  Neither had Katie.  It sounded so intriguing though, so I wanted to see how it would turn out.  It was both harder, and easier than I expected it to be.  A word of warning, cutting a spaghetti squash is RIDICULOUSLY hard.  I have never had to work so hard to cut something while cooking, I was actually pretty concerned I would end up cutting my hand in attempting to cut the darn thing in half.  Luckily, I got the stupid squash cut and all of my fingers are intact.  So that was a success.  If you have trouble cutting yours, try putting it in the microwave for 3-8 minutes (depending on the size), that should help.  Wish I’d known that before I cut mine…but now I know for next time!

If you’ve never had spaghetti squash, it doesn’t really look like spaghetti.  At least I didn’t think it looked like spaghetti, Katie thought it did though.  It doesn’t really taste all that much like spaghetti either, but it is really delicious.  Decidedly a squash taste, but that’s not a bad thing.  It’s also way better for you than regular spaghetti, so that’s definitely a plus.  Vegan and very low carb.  I like Greek themed pasta, so that’s what I did with this, but you can really do anything you’d do with regular spaghetti.

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 (14.5 oz) can Italian diced tomatoes

1/2 can black olives, sliced

2 tsp basil

3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

2. Attempt to cut your spaghetti squash lengthwise…it’s going to take some work.

3. Once you get your squash cut, use a big spoon to scrap out the guts in the inside hollow.  It should look like this:       Guts:

4. Place spaghetti squash cut sides down on the prepared baking sheet, and bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a sharp knife can be inserted with only a little resistance. Remove squash from oven, and set aside to cool enough to be easily handled.

5. Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute onion in oil until tender. Add garlic, and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, olives, and basil.  Cook only until tomatoes are warm.

6. Use a large spoon to scoop the stringy pulp from the squash, and place in a medium bowl. Toss with the sauteed vegetables and feta. Serve warm.