Spaghetti Squash is for Lovers

Raise your hand if your New Years resolution involved losing weight, health, or the deprivation of complex carbohydrates and/or butter. Now, raise your hand if roughly 3 weeks into the new year, you fell off the band wagon by eating the rest of the Ghiradelli chocolate you’d “portioned out for emergencies” after Christmas, a bag of very cherry Jelly Bellys, and then decided to bake chocolate chip cookies and shove roughly 5 into your mouth as soon as they were cool enough to hold. Whoops.

If that had been oh…me, I know where I would turn the next day to cure my sugar hang over. Spaghetti squash.

I only discovered spaghetti squash recently, and it is a veggie after my own heart. You simply cut it in half, remove the seeds, cook it as you choose, and then shred the innards into long, spaghetti like shred. Pasta makes my heart flutter, so I fell in love with the process. Also, spaghetti squash is a dream come true to the calorie concious; and 4 ounce serving has only 37 calories (4 oz of pasta has about 400).

My method of choice for preparing spaghetti squash is to cut it in half, remove the seeds, and then bake the squash face down on a jelly roll sheet with about 1/4th inch of water at 375 for about 30 minutes (you could also nuke, boil, or even slow cook the squash), then shred, toss with some homemade tomato sauce and lots of cooked veggies, dig in and enjoy. Your taste buds and the rest of your vitamin shocked body will thank you.

-Mel

This week in wine: Sauvignon Blanc

The Dallas Cowboys just lost so this calls for a booz post. This week in wine we have a 2004 Beaulieu Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc (so-vee-NYOHN BLAHN ) out of Napa Valley.

You may notice that even though it is from California, it’s in a Bordeaux style bottle. That’s because Sauvignon Blanc is originally from France’s Bordeaux region.

Sauvignon Blanc is characteristically easy to pick out of a line-up due to it’s aggressive nose. It’s very “alchoholy” with tones of matchstick and charcoal. Thankfully, the taste was quite different. This bottle was full of a grassy vanilla flavor with hints of melon and honey. It’s got a great sweet crispness to it! Sauvignon Blanc is one of the few wines that pairs well with sushi.

Overall this is a good bottle. I’ll defiantly enjoy finishing it off. (90% due to the fact that the cowboys lost.)

$18 @ Central Market

-Johnny

Hiatus

Oh dear, it has been quite a while since the last post! The new year brought lots of stress and busy times for both Johnny and I. Don’t fret, cooking has been done and there are posts to be made, just as soon as a spare second is found.

-Melanie

Winter Minestrone

After a long holiday week of overeating caramel pie, S’mores cookies, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie, apple crisp, haystacks, and cinnamon rolls sent me in a sugar haze, I was definitely craving (and in need of) some vitamin filled soup. Giada’s never let me down before, nor did she this time with her Winter Minestrone. Delish.

After further sugar binging ensued last night for New Years Eve, soup may be on the menu for tonight as well.

-Mel