Healthy Spaghetti
With all this cold weather recently, are you craving something warm? Maybe something Italian? How about a healthy alternative for spaghetti made from winter squash?
Winter squash (aka spaghetti squash) is dramatically lower in calories than traditional pasta noodles. How much lower, you ask? Try 40 calories per cup of spaghetti squash vs. 190 calories per cup for traditional pasta! Spaghetti squash also is a great source of vitamins and nutrients. It’s very dense with vitamin A, C, magnesium, dietary fiber, and a great source for antioxidants like betacarotene (which prevents cholesterol build up and regulates blood sugar).
Just a side note about blood sugar: traditional pasta noodles raise the blood sugar amount and if it’s too high, it’s stored in the body as fat. That’s why traditional noodles are so fattening…they can stick to your hips!
Our version of spaghetti is very similar to the traditional way of making spaghetti. The squash, like traditional pasta noodles, will absorb all the flavors of the pasta sauce it’s combined with. It will keep all the great Italian flavors and texture. You probably won’t even notice the difference!
To get started, cut your squash in half, dig the seeds out (but not the underlying “noodles”), bake upside down in a pan at 350º for about 30-45 minutes. To make sure it’s cooked, take a knife and try to pierce the shell, if it goes through smoothly, you’re ready.
Let it cool down and then scrape out the guts from the wall. It comes apart into stringy pieces, just like spaghetti noodles. Just scoop them into a bowl and you’re ready to add to spaghetti sauce. 
A note on spaghetti sauces: you can use store bought, but make sure there’s no sugar or high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients. There’s no reason to put sugar in spaghetti sauce! If you want a quick and easy way to make your own sauce, just sauté onion, garlic, tomatoes, basil with a little olive oil and you’re good to do.
All that’s left is to add your sauce to the noodles and mix…you’re done! Enjoy this calorie-friendly and delicious alternative spaghetti!
Geez.. who would have thunk it… something that is healthy tasting good! Hehehe I made this over the weekend and it was delicious! Besides being very tasty I certainly enjoyed how easy it was to prepare. Thank you Kardena! You da’ bomb! 🙂
Hey P!
Keeping it simple for ya! Glad you like it