With that, you know what kind of day I'm having. In between baby cuddles and eye drops, I'm trying to play catch-up on the food I've been making because we've actually had some really good food lately. I think I forgot a little bit how much I enjoy cooking. I also think that I took for granted how therapeutic cooking can be for me.
Monday night, Tony offered to make dinner. Normally, I would have loved to have him make dinner. But, this time, I was actually a little bit disappointed. I felt like I should have been doing something; I couldn't enjoy my free time. I ended up getting up and kind of taking over the cooking. I realized then how much I depend on those few moments of not thinking about work or obligations or bills. I use that time to focus on just making dinner and maybe listening to music. It's a small mental vacation for me, and I definitely need more of that in my life.
So, in that spirit, I'd like to share the zen that I had this Saturday when I made spaghetti squash. Let me just start by saying that I'm incredibly tired of spaghetti squash not getting it's proper respect. A great deal of the recipes that I've found online center around it being used in place of pasta and covered in tomato sauce. I've eaten it that way, so I can say it's pretty good. I just wanted to do it differently because it's more than just a pasta replacement. So I found a recipe that was a little different and modified it to what I wanted it to be.
First of all, we baked the squash whole in the oven at about 400 degrees for about thirty minutes. Then I cut it open, scraped out the seeds, and shredded in the inside into strands with a fork. In the future, I think I'd cut it in half, scrap out the seeds first, and then bake it. It was a little hard to separate the seeds from the cooked squash the way I did it before. After it was all scraped out, I set the squash aside.
Then, I sauteed some mushrooms with olive oil and garlic. Once the mushrooms were cooked, I added the squash back and some thyme and salt and pepper. Then, we heated up some leftover cauliflower and mashed potatoes. It was so good.
The flavor that really adds to this dish and makes it what it is is the thyme. It's flavor was surprisingly prominent, but in a really great way. The garlic was just the perfect undertone to the flavor profile. The texture of the spaghetti squash was a really nice juxtaposition to the mashed potatoes and cauliflower. The mushrooms give a nice meatiness to the flavor and texture. It was simple, delicious, and easy.
Tony had never had spaghetti squash before, so this was a good introduction to it. He enjoyed it, and even the baby had a little bite that she seemed to enjoy. This dinner was even declared a do-over on the first try--which is pretty high praise from Tony.
It's a little shameful that it's taken me this long to write about it, but there's so much that I've been making lately that I want to write about. It's been more difficult than I previously predicted to keep the blog up to date with all the new things that we're trying and all the work. I'm a little afraid that it's going to get worse once I go back to school, but I'm not going to let that stop me. I might just take advantage of the ability to schedule out posts in advance and use that to help with the hectic schedule problems.
Also, I was considering exploring a different format for these posts. That's in the works. We'll see. For now, it's baby duty. Sick and screamy are not my favorite combination for a day off. Just throwing that out there.
Savory Spaghetti Squash
This is a spaghetti squash recipe that is not the usual pasta replacement.
Ingredients
- 1 whole Spaghetti squash
- 4 large, cut into slices Mushrooms
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Thyme
- to taste Salt and pepper
Instructions
1. Bake the spaghetti squash at 400 degrees for 30 minutes if roasting whole. I suggest cutting in half, scooping out the seeds, and roasting face down on a baking sheet. Time may need to be adjusted if cutting in half to avoid overcooking.2. Scoop the flesh from the cooked squash out with a fork to form strands and set aside.3. In a skillet, heat olive oil. Sautee the mushrooms over medium high head. Once the mushrooms are almost done, add the garlic and cook for another minute.4. Add the spaghetti squash to the skillet along with the thyme, salt, and pepper and cook until squash is reheated and flavors have had time to develop.5. Serve. We served with leftover mashed potatoes and cauliflower, but this is also good on it's own.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 2
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