Recipe: Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti squash is a delicious, low-carb alternative to traditional pasta which lends itself to a variety of flavor palettes. You can usually find it at grocery stores or local markets, and while it can be on the pricier side, it’s definitely worth picking one up if you can find a good deal! When we make spaghetti squash in our dorm kitchen, we like roasting it with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and topping it with sauteed veggies to make a filling main dish, but you can play around with it and come up with your own take on this versatile dish!

For this meal, we roasted the spaghetti squash like we usually do and topped it with leftover tomato sauce, spinach, and kale. Living on a small college campus makes it tricky to find fresh, inexpensive vegetables to cook with, so we usually pick up veggies from the campus dining hall and walk to a grocery store every weekend to shop for things we can’t get on campus. When it came time to find ingredients for this meal, we picked up the spinach from the dining hall salad bar and the squash from a grocery store; the kale and tomato sauce actually came from a local farmer’s market!

Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Sauce (makes 2-4 servings)

Ingredients:

• Spaghetti squash ($4.00)
• Olive oil ($0.20/serving)
• Salt and Pepper (packet drawer)
• Tomato sauce ($2.19/jar)
• Spinach (meal plan or $0.99/serving)
• Kale ($0.99/serving)
• Desired seasoning to taste

Supplies:

• Sheet pan ($5.00)
• Knife ($3.99)
• Cutting board ($4.00)
• Saucepan* ($8.00)

Cut off the top and bottom of the spaghetti squash and cut in half lengthwise. Scrape the seeds out (like carving a pumpkin!), drizzle the squash with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook squash at 400°F for 45-50 minutes. While the squash is cooking, heat the tomato sauce in a saucepan (or a microwave safe dish if you don’t have a saucepan). Wash the spinach and kale and add to the sauce, stirring to mix everything together. When the squash is done, use a fork to scrape the “noodles” into a bowl or plate and top with the tomato sauce.