Spaghetti Squash is so good

I have never had spaghetti squash before. It arrived in my veggie delivery box last week, and the yellow orb had been sitting on my dining table, half serving as decoration and half mocking me with it's squash mind waves...you don't know what to do with me. I've invaded your dining table and I plan to stay here forever.. bwahahahahaha. Finally I decided to tackle the squash-- from my experience with the acorn variety, I figured, how bad can it be? I mean sure it's got mind waves, but I have a meat cleaver.

The hardest part was cracking this baby open. Luckily Potato was off this weekend, so I set him to work halving the squash with a giant meat cleaver (I am glad I saved that knife from the great kitchen purge of 09). With brute force he was able to cut it.. and the rest was easy!

I microwaved the halves face down in a shallow dish of water for about 15 minutes, until a knife was inserted relatively easily into the rind. Once cooked, I took a fork and flaked out the fleshy innards...and this is where the fun starts. It flakes off in noodlie segments (like vermicelli). But it is not delicate/squashy to the point of being mush. the noodle segments actually hold up really well.

In this recipe, the flaked spaghetti squash is placed in a shallow baking tray, and drizzled with marinara sauce (I used bottled Spicy Marinara) and then topped with mozzarella and Gruyere cheese. Baked at 350 degrees, just until heated through.

Try it! So worth the effort...which isn't that much considering the awesome flavor and texture of this veggie.