A Week 2 Confession & Spaghetti Fake-Out

I have a confession to make.  You ready?

I'm exhausted.  

Like, sleep all day, headache all afternoon, someone-pass-me-the-snickers-bar tired.  For all of you waiting to see if I would eat my "I feel so great!  Look at me!" words... consider them devoured.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm still glad I'm doing this and I really do see some good results.  But, I told you I would be truthful about my experience with Whole30, and right now my truth is that I'm dog-tired and having some pretty gnarly withdrawal headaches.  Any other Whole30-ers out there have this experience?  Ugh.

Some of you are probably wondering if I've cheated and/or wanted to cheat.  The answer?  No, I haven't.  Yes, I do.  But I haven't been tempted by things like a slice of pizza or big plate of pasta (ohemgee, yum) but stupid little things, like almost putting stevia in my coffee or honey in my tea.  Short little moments of weakness where I think, "this can't really hurt anything, those people are nuts" but then snap out of it and drink the stuff black.  Not my favorite, but I'm proud of myself for resisting the sweet temptation.

SO.  Time to stop dwelling on the struggle and focusing on the success.  You ready?  Mmmkay.

SPAGHETTI SQUASH TIIIME!

This scene from "Trading Places" always makes me laugh uncontrollably.  Because I'm smart. 

Have you tried the spaghetti squash/regular spaghetti fake-out that is all the rage yet?  We tried it for the first time a few months ago, and... meh.  The strands were mushy and too short to trick my carb-savvy brain into thinking I was eating anything other than a mushy, stringy, pumpkin-thing.  Ew. 

Enter Whole30, and my very real desire to have meatballs and sauce on SOMETHING.  Anything. So I went to Pinterest in search of new ways to cook this lovely little squash that held so much promise.  The two ways that seemed the most likely to produce good results were these:

1. http://myplantbasedfamily.com/2014/07/17/easiest-way-cook-spaghetti-squash/

2. http://eatwithinyourmeans.com/how-to-cook-spaghetti-squash/

I like the idea of using the my slow-cooker, like in preparation #1.  However, I don't have one of those giant oblong cookers.  Mine is perfectly round and a little smaller.  There's no way I could just cut a spaghetti squash in half and shove the two halves into it.  Ain't happenin'.  Enter preparation #2.  Cutting the whole thing up into slices and baking sounded like it made noodle-harvesting (What else would you call it?  I don't know.) a lot easier.  But I live in North Florida, and it's been in the high-70's some afternoons here lately.  Turn on my oven?  Me no likey that idea. 

What to do?  Well, in a moment of pure Neely genius (hahaha, not) I decided to combine the two methods.  Olivia had ballet at 5:30 Monday night, so I took the spaghetti squash out at around 3:30, cut it into big slices, removed the seeds, sprayed my slow-cooker down with coconut oil, and cranked it to high.  I layered all the slices in the slow-cooker, put the lid on, and walked away at 4:00.  We got home around 6:30, which left me just enough time to make the Tomato-Dijon Turkey Meatballs that everyone around here loves so much, and a quick tomato sauce.  

Here's what makes this the BEST (in my opinion) spaghetti squash preparation:

1. After 3 hours on high, take the spaghetti squash slices out and just go around the inside with a fork, separating all the strands from the middle out to the rind (Is it a rind?  Shell?).  Now, if you've made spaghetti squash the old "cut it in half and roast in the oven" way, you may notice a big difference right off the bat.  The strands are actually long and noodle-like!  That's because they wrap around the inside of the squash.  When you cut a spaghetti squash in half, you're essentially slicing every single noodle in half.  Crazy, right?  With this method, you get long strands that you can twirl around a fork, giggling with glee.  Mucho better, no?

2. Once you have all the strands separated from the squash, heat some ghee and olive oil up in a pan over medium-high heat.  Once it's nice and hot, throw in your squash.  DON'T SKIP THIS PART.  This is your chance to throw in salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper - anything you want!  The heat will help the squash absorb all those flavors, plus sauteing gives it that bite that you might expect from a good, al dente pasta.

This was soooo good!

So, now you know the secret.  Go forth and make spaghetti squash (and be prepared to have leftovers - I bought what I consider to be a smallish squash and it still made a ton!)  

I'm off to eat some runny eggs and drink copious amounts of coffee and coconut milk, in an attempt to wake up and act semi-human.  Here's hoping this slump lets up soon and I get back to feeling great!  Get it together, body!

Hey, want to keep up with what I'm making in real-time?  Follow Paleo & Pipsqueaks on Facebook!  I'm also all up in Instagram's beeswax all day long, posting pics of dang near everything that goes in my mouth.  If that's your thang, follow me there!  

Like posting imaginary pins to cyberspace corkboards that don't really exist?  Hey - ME TOO!  

Let's totes be besties over on my Whole30 Pinterest Board.

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