I’m sure that you have probably heard about the spaghetti squash noodle replacement trend, it’s everywhere.  Have you tried it yet?  It took me a long time to give it a shot because I’ve always hated spaghetti squash.  Like, always.  My dad loves to garden and he would grow it when I was a child and I remember nights where I was called to dinner only to find a huge quarter of spaghetti squash plunked on my plate with dinner.  Cooked and drizzled in butter.  I hated it.  It was yellow.  It was slimy.  It was SQUASH!

I would scrape a bit up to create the illusion that I’d made-a-go of it then ask to be excused.  I avoided it for years when I moved out as an adult.  However, I have a carb weakness, and its name is noodles. I have a real “thing” for pasta: penne noodles, angel hair, egg noodles, you name it.  In effort to eat healthier I tried cutting down on the amount of noodles I ate by trying zucchini noodles and to my surprise I loved them!  That’s when I figured I might be adventurous and desperate enough to try spaghetti squash “noodles”.  Imagine my surprise when I adored the result!  They are perfectly noodle-y, mild in flavor, and compliment tomato sauce so well.  I have tried them in a few recipes, but so far this one is my favorite. It is also crazy easy, what’s not to love?!

To start you cut the Spaghetti Squash in half with cut around circumference of short side of the squash and clean out all the seeds with a spoon. Place the squash cut side down in large crockpot. Thats it!  It cooks with everything else!  Just be sure to use a large crockpot (at least 6 quarts) so that it will fit.

Next you mix together one can diced tomatoes, one can tomato sauce, oregano, basil, thyme, garlic cloves and onion powder. Dump around the squash in the crock pot.  Then you do a similar process with the meatballs: mix together ground turkey, chopped spinach, quick oats, egg, salt, pepper, and chopped cilantro. Roll into balls and stack around the squash in the crock pot.

I promise there is some sauce way under there! The reason why you can’t see it is because I doubled the meatball recipe.   I am all about convenience and saving time so I figure if I double the meatballs not only will I not have to be stingy about them come dinner, but we will have leftover meatballs for lunch the next day.  I love eating these meatballs on their own as well as in the spaghetti dish!  If you want to double the meatball fun like I did, feel free!

Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 5 hours until the meatballs are cooked and the squash is tender enough to be pierced easily with a fork. When its finished cooking use a fork to scoop the “spaghetti” flesh out of the squash halves, top with meatballs and sauce, and serve.  When you are scraping the squash flesh make sure to take advantage of all of it.  You can scrape the flesh out all the way up to the hard skin.  Don’t be fooled, the skin on spaghetti squash is super thin, so there is a lot you can get out.  If your feeling fancy, you can even put a sprig of parsley or cilantro on your plate. It’s low carb, gluten free (make sure your oats are gluten free), and all-around healthy.  However, if you are in a hurry, but still want something fairly healthy you can do this with just THREE ingredients!  Yup!  Spaghetti squash, canned spaghetti sauce and frozen meatballs.  Hey! Sometimes life needs a little shortcut!

Plus, as a side note, dad you were right.  There is something special about spaghetti squash. 🙂