I would like to introduce you to a delightful fruit called spaghetti squash. It's an oblong seed-bearing variety of winter squash. Buttercup and acorn squash are also winter squashes. When raw, the fruit is yellow to white and the inside is very hard and has large seeds. When it is cooked the flesh can be separated and scooped out like strands or ribbons of spaghetti. It can be boiled, steamed, baked or microwaved. This fruit contains many nutrients including folic acid, vitamin A, potassium and beta carotene. It is low in calories averaging about 40 calories per cup (155 grams).
I used to microwave this squash which usually started with me begging my husband to cut the very hard fruit with a sharp knife. If you can cut it and microwave it for several minutes more power to you but I found that it was much easier to just poke a few holes in the squash with the knife and then put the entire thing uncut in the oven for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. You want to bake it until it's quite soft. At this point peeling and cutting it is as easy as cutting a tomato. Take out all the seeds and as I mentioned earlier the flesh can be separated into strands just like spaghetti. But it is far more nutritious than spaghetti!
If you like, you can add spaghetti sauce to it. I like to add a little bit of butter, salt and pepper and a little pinch of cumin. I typically add edamame beans (baby soybeans) or lentils to my spaghetti squash for a perfectly delicious meal that has high quality protein.
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