Cookin' With Cat

Pin It This afternoon I had the honor of cooking dinner with my lovely roommate Catherine.  We decided to use one of our favorite foods...spaghetti squash!  For those of you who have never heard of it before here is a visual:

 It super easy to cook.  Simply poke a few hole and pop in the microwave for 6 minutes a side and then a few more until tender (thanks Cat for showing me this simple way of cooking it!).  The squash peels out of the rind like spaghetti noodles, hence the name spaghetti squash.  You can use it as a low carb and calorie substitution for pasta in a ton of dishes.  I usually just pair it with my favorite spaghetti sauce and add in some ground venison or cut up chicken breast, but tonight Cat and I decided to be adventurous.  I found a Southwestern Pasta Dish recipe and we went from there.  The end result?  DELISH (and nutritious of course)!  Check it out!

SOUTHWESTERN SPAGHETTI SQUASH

Sorry for the poor image quality.  It was dark in out kitchen when I took this photo, but as you have probably already noticed...none of my photos are that great.  But that's not my focus here.  There are plenty of other blogs out there that have wonderful photos for you to look at if that's what you really want.  The purpose of my blog is to share my love of cooking, baking, and nutrition with you in hopes of inspiring you to love what you eat and eat healthy too.

Ingredients:

About 3 1/2 cups Spaghetti squash

1/2 Green pepper, chopped

1 cup Sliced onion

1/2 cup Frozen corn

1 can Black beans (Try to find reduced sodium or no salt added beans)

Salt and pepper to taste

3-4 tsp Chili powder

1 tsp Garlic powder

Directions:

1. Cook the spaghetti squash until tender.

2. Saute the pepper and onion in a large pan until tender.

3. Add the corn and beans to the mixture and cook until heated through.

4. Mix in the squash and seasonings.

5. Cook another 4-5 minutes until hot.

6. Serve with salsa on top. Enjoy!

Makes  large 4 servings.

*Note: This would be really good with the addition of lean ground chicken, turkey, buffalo, or venison.  We just didn't have a big enough pan to add it...haha.

Nutrition Facts:

Calories: 176

Total Fat: 2.4 g

     Sat. Fat: 0 g

Cholesterol: 0 mg

Sodium: 253.7 mg

Potassium: 247 mg

Total Carbs: 29.1 g

     Dietary Fiber: 9.5 g

     Sugars: 5.6 g

Protein: 8.5 g

Vitamin A: 18.8%

Vitamin C: 36.8%

Calcium: 8.8%

Iron: 13.8%