Spaghetti Squash Keeps on Giving
Last night I fired up some wicked good filet mignon, about 8 ounces each, To accompany it, I made spaghetti squash. I really like it, but it usually takes about 30 to 40 minutes to roast in the oven, so it’s not a staple, but we had two really great meals from one squash. Spaghetti squash has about 5.5 net carbs per cup depending on who you ask, which is a little high for me, but it’s darn good. Since I got two cups total from this squash, which we split into two nights between two people, it was a pretty benign amount of carbs on a Keto Diet, about the same as a VD Shake! Here are my two preparations:
Split the spaghetti squash lengthwise and remove the seeds. Usually I add olive oil at this point, but today, I only seasoned it with Vinny’s Not So Secret Seasoning. Place the halves face down on a baking pan, and poke some holes in the top to release the steam while it cooks. Roast at 400 degrees for about 30 to 35 minutes.
While it cooked, I fried a couple strips of thick bacon, nothing special, an Oscar Meyer product that was on sale at Publix and had zero carbs. If you are going Keto and watching your weight, always check your bacon, ham, sausage, and jerkies for carbs. Lots of hidden carbs in these products, so look for the zero carb versions. After removing the bacon to cool, on a whim, I decided to pre-heat one side of my filets in the bacon fat. When I put them on the grill, that side was down first, on top, each filet had a small pat of butter. Probably some of the best filets I ever grilled…….
Remove the squash from the oven and use a fork to fluff out the spaghetti-like interior. Mix in chopped bacon and about a 1/4 cup of gouda cheese. A little more Vinny’s Not So Secret Seasoning, and into the broiler for 5 minutes to melt the cheese and brown the top. It was all just wow…. As we were cleaning up, Alina commented that she really liked the maple flavor in the spaghetti squash at Longhorn Steakhouse. If only I had bought Maple Bacon.
I reserved half of the spaghetti squash for tonight, and while cooking some chicken, I rummaged around in my pantry for some maple syrup. The purists will gag now, because I personally have never liked “real” maple syrup, and my kids don’t like syrup on their pancakes or waffles. Since we hadn’t eaten either in a year, I was actually surprised to find a bottle of maple flavored high fructose corn syrup in my pantry. A glance at the label said 26 carbs per serving. Whoah! Then, I saw that a serving was a quarter cup. I asked Alexa how many teaspoons were in a quarter cup. Upon learning that it was 12, quick math said I could afford to mix in one teaspoon, and divide it between the two of us.
After fluffing out the spaghetti, I mixed it with two tablespoons of melted butter, one teaspoon of flavored sugar water, and topped it with one quarter cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Since it was all cold, I put it in the oven for 10 minutes at 450 degrees in order to brown up the cheese nicely. It was pretty awesome, but not as good as the bacon version yesterday to me, but my wife really liked the sweetness. I meant to take some pictures of this version, but just forgot.
The Vince Diet 