Spaghetti Squash!
This week’s CSA bag was incredible. It had so much produce in it. When I was picking it up, I noticed all the other great produce, and felt the need to purchase a large quantity of zucchini too! I looked at my huge bag of goodies for a minute, much like an Iron Chef must—what to do????? I had just pulled a recipe out of my favorite Penzy’s catalog for zucchini—so I thought I would try that! It was a terrific recipe. I left out the ingredients that weren’t staples at my house, like the coconut and the nuts, but would add them next time! Give these a try—you will not be disappointed.
What I did with the rest was simple. I cut up the peppers, cucumber and green beans to take to a football game party with Chipotle dip. Fresh veggies are always good. It balances the higher fat stuff! I boiled the beets, peeled them and sliced them up. My family likes them plain with a little bit of butter. I am still thinking about roasting them with a little olive oil—but will see what tonight brings!
The spaghetti squash was used as a test. The last time I cooked spaghetti squash—it blew the microwave door open! If you cook it whole, wash it well with cold running water—then puncture it with a knife—DEEPLY! You really want to let steam out of the middle. Back to my test—the question was posed to me—does it cook better upside down or right side up in the microwave/oven? So I tried both. It cooked exactly the same! Then I used a fork to gently pull it apart and served it with spaghetti sauce. A quick and tasty meal! Give it a try.
- 1 Cup all-purpose flour
- ½ Cup whole wheat flour
- ½ Cup oatmeal
- 1 Cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. PENZEYS CINNAMON
- 1 tsp. POWDERED GINGER
- ¼ tsp. GROUND CLOVES
- ½ Cup raisins
- ¼ Cup chopped pecans
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp. PURE VANILLA EXTRACT
- ½ Cup carrot, grated (1 regular sized carrot)
- ½ Cup zucchini, grated (1 small)
- 1 tsp. orange zest (or ⅓ tsp. MINCED ORANGE PEEL rehydrated in 1 tsp. water)
- 1 Cup applesauce
- ½ Cup crushed pineapple
- ½ Cup coconut
- Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease muffin pans. In a large bowl combine the flours, oatmeal, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, CINNAMON, GINGER and CLOVES. Stir in the raisins and nuts and set aside. In another bowl beat the eggs until frothy. Stir in the VANILLA, carrots, zucchini, orange zest/peel, applesauce, pineapple and coconut. Pour the egg mixture into the dry mixture and stir until just combined. Do not over-mix. Put into greased muffin pans. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes.
- Yield: 21 Nutritional Information: Servings 21; Serving Size 1 muffin (58g); Calories 130; Calories from fat 20; Total fat 2.5g; Cholesterol 20mg; Sodium 170mg; Carbohydrate 25g; Dietary Fiber 2g; Sugars 13g; Protein 2g.
