A Healthy Substitute

Squash, squash, beautiful squash....

I love squash, it's one of my favorite things about Fall. Actually, I can't think of anything related to this beautiful season that I don't like, but that doesn't take away the value of these amazing, versatile vegetables. There are 2 general groups of squash, summer and winter.

Summer:

• Gem - dark green, softball size
• Pattypan - small, shallow, round, scalloped edges
• Tromboncino - long, thin, light green
• Yellow crookneck - yellow/orange color, bubbles on it
• Yellow summer - looks like yellow zucchini
• Zucchini - green, beautiful, delicious

Winter:

• Acorn - larger than a softball, can be green with shades of yellow and orange
• Big Max - monster squash that look like pumpkins
• Butternut - pale yellow outer skin, deep orange inside, larger on one end
• Kabocha - looks like a green bumble pumpkin
• Red kuri - looks like a small pumpkin without the ridges
• Spaghetti - can be white, yellow or light orange, oval shape
• Turban - shades of green, orange and white, bumpy and odd shaped. While beautiful to look at, this is the most useless food-wise squash available

Knowing what type of squash you have is important because some of them are very aromatic, sweet, will soften when cooking and are great with other dishes, while others have a more distinct taste and purpose.

While I do have a set list of my general uses for each type of squash, I have been known to experiment - both successfully and not. We all make mistakes, but what's important is finding a way to make the dish work. I want to incorporate as much squash as possible into our diets because there are so many nutritional benefits.

One way I've been sneaking in the goodness is by using spaghetti squash in my dishes instead of pasta. This isn't an uncommon practice, I know lots of people who love this. Pinterest has a boatload of ideas and I was inspired.

Cooled down, ready to scrape.

Ready to go!

I totally fooled them.

It's so easy to pass this off as pasta. I used this with spaghetti sauce and veggies, made a vegetarian sloppy joe style mixture and scooped in on top of it, made my usual Alfredo style sauce and mixed it right up, spaghetti pie, etc. - there are endless options.

Simple additions like cheese, fresh herbs, garlic, meat (real or faux) and butter work as well.

It's super simple to do. Take your squash, using a fork, make several puncture marks all over it. Cut the squash in half, put it on a baking sheet (cut side down), and bake it at 350 for an hour.

When it's done, remove it from the oven, allow it to cool some (it really holds the heat), remove the seeds, and use a fork to scrape across it. It will fall apart right in your hand. Scrape as much as possible and then add whatever you want to it.

So simple, yet really tasty.