Pump up the Volume

Sometimes I really want to eat a delicious tomato-based veggie sauce, the kind that you put on pasta.  But even though I am really hungry today,  I don't want the pasta.  Instead I am having my sauce on a heaping bed of spaghetti squash.  This is a really big meal - lots of volume for very few calories.  A win-win in my books.

When I am going to eat the whole squash for dinner, I start the process with a fairly small one.  This one is about 8 inches long.  You could, of course, just eat half of a larger one.

I like to get The Captain to cut the squash in half, lengthwise, and today he offered to scooop out the innards, too, before I cooked it.

I cook my squash, cut-side down in the microwave oven, for about 6 minutes per half.  I tend to cook it for a few minutes, check it, then cook it a bit longer if it needs it.  I find it gets kind of mushy when it is overcooked, and I don't like that.

After it is done it is too hot to handle right away so I leave it to cool for a couple of minutes before taking the flesh out of the shell.  I just rake a fork across the grain and it comes out very easily.

Naturally, while all this is going on, I have had a sauce cooking on the stove.  Today it is garlic, onions, orange bell peppers, mushrooms, canned diced tomatoes and a bit of tomato paste... cooked till it thickened up and then I add spaghetti seasoning for the last few minutes of bubbling time.  The Captain will get half on his rotini.

A bit of salt on the plateful of squash, and then the sauce.  Heaven!



Per Serving.
Weight Watchers P+ = 0.
Calories 143; Protein 5g; Carbohydrate 31g; Fat 1g; Fibre 9g