Super Spaghetti Squash

Last week I made spaghetti squash for the first time and it was great! My mom had made it over Thanksgiving and after seeing that it wasn't that hard to make and since I had a recipe waiting to be made, I went for it! The recipe was for Coriander Spaghetti Squash from BitchBuzz.com, but I actually didn't have any coriander. Below is my recipe, which varies slightly from the original.

Ingredients:
- 1 medium spaghetti squash
- 1 tsp olive oil plus another 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 large onion, diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 15-ounce can of red beans
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup spinach, chopped
- grated Pecorino cheese (optional)

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
- Cut squash in half, lengthwise. Scoop out center seeds and rub the inside of each half with a 1/2 tsp olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Fill a rectangular glass baking dish with 1-inch of water and place the squash face down in the dish. Bake for 30 minutes or until the peel is easily perforated with a knife. Once done baking, remove from oven and set aside.
- After about 20 minutes of baking, heat the remaining olive oil over medium heat in a large pot.
- Add onion and saute for 4 minutes
- Add garlic and saute for another minute
- Add beans, continue to saute for 3-4 minutes
- Add cumin, salt, and pepper and stir for 30 seconds
- Pour in crushed tomatoes, water, and spinach
- Increase heat to medium-high and cover pot, simmering for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, with a fork pull out the flesh from the spaghetti squash halves.
- Add the spaghetti to the pot and stir everything together.
- Top with grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese if desired.


The end result was so good! I could definitely permanently replace real spaghetti with spaghetti squash. A couple observations... spaghetti squash is not as easy to cut as I thought it would be. There are other ways to bake it (like poking holes and sticking it in the microwave, which I'll probably try next time), but I wanted to follow the recipe. I was also amazed at how much spaghetti came from one medium sized squash. This made about 6 hefty sized portions and as far as weight watchers it's 4 PointsPlus/serving.


I will definitely be making spaghetti squash again and even my roommate gave this her seal of approval!