Ya just gotta love these awesome little, no... correction... HUGE veggies. Spaghetti squash are amazing things... They grow well in home gardens, even up here with our short growing season, and are readily available in grocery stores.
We didn't grow any in our garden this year, but my neighbor gave us some of hers. They are oh so good, sweet and just fun to eat. Without lots of butter, salt & pepper or made into zucchini treats, most squash are fairly tasteless to me. I actually was quite surprised how flavor these have.
Spaghetti squash are easy to cook and it's kinda fun to scrape out the yellow, spaghetti-like strands of goodness. Here are the instructions for microwaving them:
Microwave Spaghetti Squash
1. With a long, sharp knife, pierce squash three or
four times along the perimeter, making sure
the holes extend all the way to the center
of the squash. (This creates steam vents in
the squash.)
2. Microwave squash for 20 minutes. Steam
should be coming out of the holes by
the end of this time. If not, microwave
for another 4 or 5 minutes. Let
squash sit in the microwave for 10
minutes after cooking.
3. Cut off stem end of squash. Cut remaining
squash lengthwise. You will see light
yellow squash and darker, almost amber
areas. The darker areas will contain
seeds. Remove all seeds and retain the
light yellow strands.
At this point you can enjoy the wonderfully sweet and rich taste, buttered and seasoned to your liking, or as a pasta-less spaghetti with your favorite sauce. It's a really good way to have your Italian food without the heaviness and calories of typical pasta. We really enjoy it like this. A friend uses spaghetti squash in her Chicken Parmesan and says it is awesome.
The green beans seen there on the plate are out of our garden. While they taste really good, I have to say they don't taste enough better fresh from the garden to justify the length of time you have to cook them... I'm just way ok with opening a can! I cooked them for almost 8 hours on high in a crock pot the other day and they still weren't done. I cooked them for another 5 or 6 minutes in a pressure cooker and they're not too bad. They are still a little too crisp for our preference but I wasn't going to mess with them anymore that night. Next time I cook them, I will try them in the pressure cooker to begin with. If it's still a pain, the ones in the freezer will probably either be pressure canned or go out to feed the critters! They do can really easily... we did about 50 pints a couple of weeks ago and they turned out great.
If you haven't tried spaghetti squash, give it a try... I predict you'll find a new favorite veggie.
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