Day 4: How to cook spaghetti squash!

Sometimes I'll be eating lunch at work and my co-workers will look over my shoulder and ask, "What's that? Spaghetti?" And I'm like H NO! I wouldn't eat that fake, processed, made-from-enriched-bleached flour "food". Long before the whole high-protein, low-carb diets became the latest craze, I just was never a big pasta fan. I mean, it's good, but I always thought it tasted plain and was unexciting. So when I go out to an Italian restaurant, I usually look for any non-pasta dishes. However, I must say I LOVE garlic bread. . . but I digress.

So. . . SPAGHETTI SQUASH! It is FAR healthier for you than regular spaghetti. Click here for the nutrition facts in 1 cup cooked regular spaghetti, and then compare it to 1 cup cooked spaghetti squash. It's a vegetable, and not pasta. When I tell my co-workers what I'm eating, they usually ask how to make it. It's easy! So here's how!

BEFORE (left) and AFTER (right) cleaning out the insides of the spaghetti squash.

Step 1: Wash the outside of the spaghetti squash, and then use a butcher knife to cut it in half. Then cut each half so you have quarters. The insides will have some seeds and stringy stuff. It reminds me of cutting jack-o-lanterns. And just like with pumpkin (another squash), you have to scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff. So I take a spoon and hold each quarter over the trash can and scrape it all into the trash.

Step 2: Take the cleaned-out quarters and place them in a large pot with a vegetable steamer and lots of water in the bottom. Bring the water to a boil with a lid on the pot. One thing to watch out for: Spaghetti squash takes longer to steam than other vegetables, so make sure to check periodically to make sure the water in the bottom is not boiling completely away. (I once burned a pan and ruined a steamer while my spaghetti squash was undercooked and scorched! Grrrr!)

Step 3: Check the spaghetti squash with a fork to see if the strands start to pull away from the rind. I find this usually takes 7-10 minutes with the water boiling.

Step 4: Remove the spaghetti squash and set them on a plate to cool off. Cooling off takes about 15 minutes.

Step 5: This is the FUN part! Take a fork and start to scrape the spaghetti squash "noodles" out of the rinds. If you cooked the squash thoroughly enough, it should come out completely and easily!
This was the "noodles" I pulled from 1/4 of the spaghetti squash.

There are different ways to eat it. You can eat it with some butter and salt and pepper. I like to eat it with ground turkey and marinara sauce, just like regular spaghetti! I'm sure there are plenty of other good and much more creative ways to eat spaghetti squash, but I'm too lazy to make anything fancier! LOL But I would like to try something new eventually.

Here I have portioned out 3 meals - 1 cup spaghetti squash, 4 oz ground turkey, with 1/2 c. marinara sauce. Yum! About 240 calories and totally filling!

So here's how the day went!

4:00AM Wake up after about 6.5 hours sleep.

4:30AM raw almonds and raisins

5:00AM Six miles of trail running! In the dark! With a headlamp! It has been at least 2 months since I got up before dawn to run trails. It was my friend Jeff, and I. Our buddy rePete was supposed to join, but apparently had alarm clock issues. We ran into a few other crazies out running as well. My legs were smoked from some earlier workouts this week, so it was a struggle. I'm afraid I whined too much this morning! LOL

6:15AM apple

7:15AM 1 egg and 4 egg whites with some sweet potato

8:30AM raisins, raw almonds, baby carrots

9:00AM Spin Class with HEED in my water bottle (ok, so Heed is not Paleo, but whatever)

10:15AM Grapefruit

11:30AM Pork Loin with some veggies (bell pepper, garlic, mushrooms, onion)

12:00PM 2 1/2 Hour Nap (I really needed that!)

3:30PM Well, I'm allowed 3 cheats a week. . . so I decided to indulge in a small frozen yogurt from Golden Spoon! Sooooo good! But didn't sit so well in my stomach for the next couple hours. It's funny to see how the body reacts when you really clean up your diet. I used to eat Golden Spoon, literally every day. . . sometimes twice a day!

7:00PM chicken breast with broccoli, blueberries

9:00PM Dark chocolate square 88% (yes it's very bitter, but still chocolate-y!) and 8 fresh strawberries!

Macronutrient breakdown: 2065 calories, 120 g. protein, 261 carbs, 61 g. fat

So I definitely ate more today. I think my body really needed it. I could have done without that frozen yogurt, since it's mostly sugar. Overall, right now, I'm feeling pretty good! Now I have to go to sleep since I have a long work day tomorrow!