You can get your days worth of vegetables just from this one dish. For me, this is one of those recipes that I make when I haven’t been to the market in over a week and pull together things that are just sitting in my fridge. Spaghetti squashes will keep on your counter for about three weeks. If you have never eaten spaghetti squash or have never cooked one yourself before, pick one up the next time you do your grocery shopping and use this simple recipe. It’s like totally healthful and yumm-o in thirty minutes, you guys!

Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes four servings

• 1 medium to large spaghetti squash
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into one inch pieces
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• Small handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
• Juice of one half a lemon
• A few splashes of white wine
• 20 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
• Olive oil
• Grated hard cheese, such as parmesan or pecorino (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out seeds with a spoon and discard. Brush the flesh-side of both halves with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Lay on a baking sheet, flesh-side down and roast in the oven for 30 minutes or until a knife goes through the skin easily.While the squash is in the oven, prep your veggies. Then get a large pan or medium pot going on medium-high heat. Add a good glug of olive oil and sautée onions until somewhat soft. Add carrots and garlic and cook another two to three minutes. Add canned tomatoes, asparagus, zucchini, lemon juice and white wine. Cook until veggies are al dente, yet still vibrant in color - about ten minutes. Add parsley.

Once your squash is ready, move to plate to cool slightly. Then take a fork and scoop out strings and move to bottom of plates. Spoon sauce over and sprinkle with grated cheese. Season to taste.

Tips ‘n’ Tricks

• If you are lazy or don’t know how to julienne you can buy carrots a pre-cut in that shape or even just use the large holes in a cheese grater.
• If you are REALLY lazy, you can use jarred tomato sauce. I don’t remember the last time I ate jarred tomato sauce. I do not endorse jarred sauce - It’s like making out with the mirror instead of a person.
• This is more of a guide recipe. Use whatever vegetables you have in your fridge that need to be eaten. You can use mushrooms, spinach, green peas, julienned snow peas, etc.

Health: A+
Difficulty: Easy
Special gear: None
Affordability: Cheap. Appx $9 for ingredients, $2.25 per serving.
Cost breakdown:
Spaghetti squash $3
One carrot $.10
One onion $.50
Three cloves garlic $.10
One bunch asparagus $2
One zucchini $.50
Small handful flat leaf parsley $.25
Four cloves of garlic $.25
Juice of half a lemon $.25
20 oz can of crushed tomatoes $1
Grated cheese $1
(Cost breakdown includes approximation of partial quantities. For example: A bunch of fresh parsley cost me $2 and I used 1/8 of if for this recipe, thus the cost of the amount of parsley I used is $.25. Cost breakdown does not include cost of pantry staples, like olive oil and white wine.)