Takin’ the Pasta Out of Spaghetti

Spaghetti with meatballs may be one of my all time favorite comfort foods. The only problem with this dinner is that I like to eat a biiiig helping of the pasta and am left feeling overly stuffed every time.

I recently discovered a wonderful substitution for the noodles: spaghetti squash.

Sliced Spaghetti Squash

To begin making tonight’s dinner I preheated the oven to 375 degrees and had Ryan cut the squash in half (it’s very tough, so be careful).

I removed the seeds and placed the squash face down on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.

Seeded Spaghetti Squash

Ready to Bake

I let the squash bake for around 40 minutes, though you could bake it for a little less time if it’s a smaller squash. Once the squash was tender, I forked out the “spaghetti” strands.

The "Noodles"

This squash yielded a lot of “spaghetti.”

Lots of Squash

I placed a large amout of the squash in a bowl and topped it with roasted zucchini, squash, marinara, Morningstar Farms crumbles and Parmesan cheese.

Morningstar Farms Crumbles

Dinner Time

Dig In!

Once I stirred it all up, it looked a lot less attractive, but tasted phenomenal!

Looks Gross, Tastes Good!

I have a tendency to love disgusting-looking food. I think I get this from my dad. Our plates at Thanksgiving are utterly repulsive. We mix everything together: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, peas… the works!

I’ll never forget one of my first dinners at Ryan’s mom’s house. She served mashed potatoes with gravy and peas and I stirred mine all together. She said she knew I was “one of them” when I turned such an attractive meal into a plate of delicious mush! I guess this will be a tradition Ryan and I will continue together!

Question: What is your favorite nasty looking food?

Snack Time to Lunch Time

I’ve previously said I enjoy eating mini-meals throughout the day, but I realized I typically only post my three “main meals” which are basically the meals I eat at normal breakfast, lunch and dinner times.

This keeps my blog load down so I don’t get too overwhelmed, but today I did snap a pic of my 11 a.m. mini-meal.

Fruity Greek Goodness

I topped a plain Chobani Greek yogurt cup with freshly sliced strawberries and a cup of Dole no sugar added Mandarin orange slices.

Big, Fat Strawberries

Close Up

This helped tide me over until lunchtime when I warmed up a Joseph’s pita and stuffed it with homemade tuna salad and fresh spinach.

Tuna Salad with Celery

To make the tuna salad, I combined a can of tuna with a big squirt of light mayo, a little squirt of mustard, a scoop of relish and lots of chopped celery. The celery made it taste like the tuna salad you might get at a deli, which I just loved!

Tuna and Spinach Pita

Stuffed!

I loved this lunch. The Joseph’s pita is the perfect size for stuffing but isn’t so thick that it takes away from the flavor of the goodies inside.

Peanut Buttery Breakfast

This morning I woke up craving a warm and toasty breakfast. I think the doughy bread from Ryan’s enormous sandwich last night left me wanting more wholesome goodness, so I decided a bagel would be the base of my morning meal.

Alternative Sweet Wheat Bagels

I first toasted a Western Bagel Alternative Sweet Wheat bagel before determining what spread I wanted to use to top the warm breakfast bread.

My love of peanut butter kicked in, but we’re currently out of the nutty spread, so I opted for my powdered peanut butter favorite, PB2 as the bagel topper.

First I scooped two tablespoons of the powder into a cup and added a bit of water and stirred until the consistency resembled real peanut butter.

PB2 Powder

PB2 Stirred

I spread it on the bagel halves and topped them with sliced almonds for that crunch I adore.

PB and Almond Bagel

A Closer Look

I then poured myself a hot cup of Yogi Mayan Cocoa Spice tea and my breakfast was complete!

A Yummy Tuesday Breakfast

This was a great post-run meal. I always love whole grains after a good run. They fill me right up!