My Squash Bias

I really meant to have leftovers for dinner last night.
Our fridge was stuffed.
Soup from my mother in law, those meatballs from Sunday. And veggie enchiladas that I've been meaning to post on the blog since I made them last week.

I also had a spaghetti squash that Lauren brought me from NJ. She belongs to a CSA and sometimes has a hard time eating a whole box of vegetables.

I have never had spaghetti squash. Either had Jerry.
I love squash. Butternut, acorn, kabocha. But I've always been a little biased against this type.
Remember how a few years ago when people were told to substitute actual spaghetti for spaghetti squash?
Maybe it was growing up in an Italian family, but I was always a little insulted by this. There is no way squash can or should be a substitute for pasta.

Last night I decided to throw away my (ridiculous) grudge against this vegetable and  give it a try.

I got my inspiration for dinner from a Rachael Ray recipe called Spicy Roasted Tomato Marinara with Spaghetti Squash.
Frankly, this recipe has way too many ingredients. I didn't even read them all.
I basically saw the picture of a roasted squash with sauce on top and ran with it.

I made a quick tomato sauce from some tomatoes I got at the farmers market on Saturday. I added lots of herbs and some onions, and then tossed in my leftover meatballs.

I cut the squash in half, scooped out the seeds, and roasted in the oven for 40 minutes at 400. 

When it was done I piled sauce, meatballs, and grated sharp provolone cheese into my boat squash.

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by this.
It certainly didn't taste like spaghetti, but that's ok, because I didn't want it to.
I'll let my spaghetti taste like spaghetti.
I loved the thin strings of squash all mixed with the sauce and cheese. I ended up eating this whole half of squash.

Even more surprising was that Jerry loved it. I was not expecting him to like this dish at all.
I hindsight, I shouldn't have been surprised at all. He likes squash, and loves meatballs.

He even said the magic words after dinner.
The words when I know he really liked dinner, and he isn't just saying yes when I ask him 40 times if he really liked it.

"Can we have this again some time?"

Spaghetti squash, you passed the test. We can be friends now.
Just stop trying to be spaghetti.