Squish Squash

I don't know how many of you actually love squash but I really hate the stuff. My mom and dad used to eat a lot of Acorn squash. I remember mom cutting it in half and baking it in the oven with a little butter and brown sugar. In theory that sounds delicious but in reality it tasted like butt. I don't know if it was the texture or just that whole pumpkiny smelly thing when she cut it but I could never stand it.

Every time I've been on a diet, you hear them say to try Spaghetti squash. Spaghetti squash is always listed as one of those things that mimics spaghetti when you put sauce on it. It is a higher carbohydrate vegetable but it does count as a veggie.

I love to collect recipes from Rachel Ray, Real Simple, Family Circle, etc. and put them in my binder to try later. I ran across one for Spaghetti squash and said this is the one to try.

I really didn't know what I was doing at the store and the 12-year-old stoner they had stocking produce didn't look like much help, so I went to what I knew about picking out other gourds. I looked for one that was even colored, not too many spots and sounded a little hollow when thumped.

In this recipe, you cut the squash in half and put it in the microwave to cook it. That didn't sound too appealing so I looked up recipes for roasting it in the oven. I just thought, if I'm going to eat squash, then let's try and get some good flavor. After a little bit of a hard time trying to cut in half—I had to stab it and push the knife down and repeat all the way around—I put on some salt and pepper, put it on a pan shell-side-up and roasted it for 30 minutes at 375 degrees. While this was cooking I cooked some spicey italian sausage and chicken sausage together in a pan, drained the grease off. When the squash was done, I let it cool a bit and then I held it in one hand with a towel and took a fork and shredded the pulp with the other. It shredded out just like spaghetti noodles. I took a little taste and it really didn't taste like much of anything. I mixed the shreds with some herbed butter, salt and pepper and parmesan cheese—the good stuff, not the stuff in the green can. Then I took about 2 cups of spinach and mixed it with the sausage. The recipe said to wilt it for two minutes but I hate cooked spinach even more than squash so I just turned it once and then scooped it on top of the squash.

When I set it in front of JeffyT, the look on his face was priceless. He looked at me like I'd slapped his face. He took his fork, picked some up, smelled it and sort of ate it with his eyes closed. Then a look of surprise registered on his face. He took another bite. I asked him how he liked it and he said the spicey sausage really made it.

I would cook the squash a little longer but this is defintely a keeper and I will eat spaghetti squash again. I'm going to try recipes with tomato sauce and other veggies too. We liked it so much, I think I'm going to plant some. Looks like we have a keeper.

Tales from the Tapletts