spaghetti squash | The Fotographing Fat Kid

I guess I should start this post with the statement that I am not a vegetarian (If the moon was made of spare ribs, I would eat it), I am not vegan (diary is delicious bliss in any form…except cottage form), nor am I a paleo (I am not a Flinstone), but I am a guy trying to lose weight who loves to try different kinds of food. That’s why after almost everyone I knew became obsessed with spaghetti squash and zucchini (colloquially known as zoodles) (fun fact: I actually can’t pronounce “colloquially.” It’s really weird.) I had to give them a shot!

A while back, Megan and I made this killer baked spaghetti squash and cheese recipe from SkinnyTaste so we knew that we liked the taste and the texture which wasn’t as big of a jump for your palate as you might expect. Last week, it felt like my Twitter feed was clogged up with zoodle recipes and Tweets about how easy and delicious it was to make. Even the Huffington Post wrote an article about it! So, I took to the interwebs on the hunt to find the right spiral slicer. After reading a few reviews and avoiding the As Seen on TV model, I went with the Kitchen Basics Spiral Vegetable Slicer. It had the best reviews and it was on sale when I bought it.

How do I like it, you ask? WELL KEEP READING, SON!

First of all, it’s essentially a pencil sharpener.
There is a cap that goes on the end of your vegetable of choice, but I found it easier just to grab it and turn. It’s in an hourglass shape so as your turn the veggie, it cores on the other side. You don’t have to apply a lot of pressure either! Even the skin of the veggie is easy to get through. I would also make sure to cut off the ends and cut off any blemishes if needed.
This is all I got from one squash…
and this is what I got from a pretty big zucchini!
This time, we only did two veggies which ended up being more than enough for the two of us. Since most of it was just a giant strand of vegetable deliciousness, I gave it a rough chop to before I put it in the pan.
I had seen a couple of different ways to cook up the veggies if you want them to be like spaghetti. While I think about of people boil them, I just added a little olive oil and sliced garlic into the pan on medium to high heat. Pretty soon, they started to sweat and pretty much saute.
It took them about 4-5 minutes to get soft. A LOT of water came out so it would be smart to drain them before serving.
AND HERE’S THE FINISHED PRODUCT!
When it was cooking, I whipped (opened) up a simple spaghetti sauce for a topping and we dug in.
The result? Delciousness!
Megan said it best though; “pasta” made this way is not really a substitute for your typical grain/carbtastic pasta. It’s really a dish of its own. Now that we have this nifty gadget, I can’t wait to put it to good use! The possibilities are endless…and delicious!