A Spaghetti squash...um... I think

I was reading a website yesterday about the wonder that is a spaghetti squash. Innards like spaghetti strands and way better for you than white pasta. Lets take a quick tally... for regular white spaghetti 240 calories, 1 gram of fat, 47 carbs, and 2 grams of dietary fiber. Compared to the spaghetti squash 40 calories, 0 grams of fat, 10 carbs and 2 grams of dietary fiber. Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner in the nutrition category.

However, I have been eating pasta all my life and know exactly how to buy it, cook it and eat it. I can not say the same for the squash. When I entered the automatic doors of the local grocery store I was a completely naive squash buyer and I didn't even know it yet. I go the produce department and find a giant cardboard bin labeled "Assorted squash 69 cents a pound." Assorted squash? How long have they been selling food like this? Well it's amazing how many varieties of squash there are and how different they aren't, I felt like I was playing a round of squash roulette. I had a vague image in my head of what I remember a spaghetti squash looked like from the website. I was standing over the bin saying, "Ok, just look for something that looks pumpkin-y but yellow." I narrowed it down to two and decided to buy the smaller of the two... if I choose poorly at least it didn't cost that much.

I got home and set the squash on the table until this morning. It takes about 45 minutes to cook in the oven and that is just about how long it takes for my morning run. I think I will quickly cut this open and put it in the oven while I am running. Well there doesn't seem to be such a thing as quickly cutting this thing open. I take the few jabs at it and I can't move my knife... hmmm... I grasp the closest solid object which happens to be a can opener and start using the knife and can opener like a hammer and chisel. I am just about ready to get out the blow torch when the thing finally cracks down the middle. At this point I am still uncertain that I even bought the right squash... so I slowly peak inside and I still have no idea. This is not what I was picturing but I throw it on the cookie sheet anyway and head out for my run (On a side note I recorded my fastest mile this morning... as my niece would say "I kicked asphalt). When I get home the innards are nice and soft and I scoop them out, and guess what? They actually look like spaghetti. So I bought the right one. Yeah me! Now the spaghetti innards are in the refrigerator for a recipe I am going to make tomorrow I will let you know who wins in the taste category... squash or pasta.