Is is a noodle? Is it a vegetable? Who knows?

First of all…thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your prayers and words of encouragement.  Honestly Jake and I aren’t all that worried about it, we just want to make sure we do the right thing.  If God happens to let you in on what that is for us, please let us know.  :-)

Second, and for the topic of this blog, have you ever had spaghetti squash?

THIS is a spaghetti squash:

I had never heard of, much less seen, such a vegetable (or fruit, depending on whether we are speaking in botanical terms or culinary terms.  Read this.) That is, until a couple of weeks ago when Shannon introduced me to it. I was intrigued. Here’s how it works. You first cut the thing in half (tougher than you might think) and then scoop out the seeds and pulp from the inside of it.

Next you cover the cut side with saran wrap, place it in the microwave cut side up, and nuke it for 9 minutes. Yep, 9. Meanwhile, mince some fresh garlic and saute it in a little butter on the stove. (notice the fancy-dancy knife there…a Christmas present from my mother-in-law…and well worth every penny she spent on it. I love it!)

When the microwave beeps, CAREFULLY (i.e., using pot-holders so as not to sustain 2nd degree burns like I did) remove the squash from the microwave. Take a fork and just start scraping at the insides. It just magically flakes off into these spaghetti-noodle-looking strands. It’s the coolest thing!

Transfer these noodle-like squash guts to the pan where you have your garlic and butter sauteing, and cook it up for a few minutes until it gets just a little crispy around the edges and has the garlic and butter all mixed up in it.

Then eat it! I like to sprinkle a little salt on it and eat it just like that, but you can also add any kind of pasta sauce as if it were noodles and eat it that way. It’s SO good! If you like garlic that is. I think it’s really just a means of consuming garlic and butter. The squash itself is very neutral, and doesn’t really have a distinct flavor. So if you’re like me, and you season practically EVERYTHING with garlic, you’ll love this. If not, then, well…I don’t know. Eat a carrot or something.