roasted spaghetti squash with homemade marinara sauce

Let me start by apologizing for the lack of posts recently.

Things have been so crazy over here!

Between cleaning, shopping, preparing for the big move {this Friday!!}, and being really busy at work, it's been tough for me to find the time to share what I've been cooking up lately.
But I haven't forgotten about you.
And I do have a few things up my sleeve that I've been saving for when the time came.

Like our experiment with spaghetti squash.

Which, by the way, I'm considering a success because Joe doesn't like squash and he ate a whole bowl of it!
I was one proud lady that night.

Way to be a good sport, my love.

Things you'll need:

1 medium sized spaghetti squash

dash of sea salt

dash of black pepper

For sauce:

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

2 large cans of whole, peeled, organic tomatoes

2-3 tbsp oregano

sea salt, to taste

black pepper, to taste

splash of almond milk {or any other milk/cream you prefer}

1/8 cup reduced fat Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Slice squash in half lengthwise.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake {rind side up} for 30-40 minutes, until tender.

Run a fork through the flesh of the squash from one end to the other, separating it into strands.

{like spaghetti!}

For sauce:

Saute garlic in olive oil until slightly golden brown.

Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and oregano.

Using a hand blender, puree tomatoes.

Be sure not to blend too long! You want them to be a little chunky for some texture.

Add Parmesan cheese, a splash of milk, and simmer as long as you like.

I simmered for about 20 minutes.

And there you have it.

A healthy "spaghetti" dinner in 30 minutes!

According to MyFitnessPal:

Serving size: 1 cup spaghetti squash

Cals/serving: 42

Fat/serving: 0.4g

Protein/serving: 1g

Carbs/serving: 10g

Serving size: 1/2 cup sauce

Cals/serving: 28

Fat/serving: 0.1g

Protein/serving: 1.1g

Carbs/serving: 6.3g

The sauce recipe makes a pretty good bit.

We jarred ours up and used it to make pizzas last weekend, which turned out delicious!

I also gave a jar away.

Who doesn't like getting homemade sauce as a gift?

That's right.

No one.

Also, for those of you who are intimated by the spaghetti squash...

So was I.

But I promise it was surprisingly easy to make and was actually really tasty!

I had my reservations about it, and I really was pleasantly surprised.

And to save 150-180 calories per cup by making the switch from regular noodles?

No question.

Other things we've been up to...

Finally got those succulents at Ikea I had my eye on.

Celebrated a wedding at one of the most beautiful venues.

Lots of fun lunch dates with Joe, which led to the discovery of the best cheesecake/mousse dessert ever.

Did I mention it was only $5?

$5 people!

Visited Joe's parents.  AJ followed around Joe's dad the entire weekend, of course.

Teaching pup how to be more hip.

Now that we're all caught up, you can expect to see more of me around these parts.

Tune in tomorrow for the big Foodie Penpals reveal for this month!

Happy Monday friends!