spaghetti squash in the microwave

I love this squash. It doesn't heat the kitchen at all to cook it this way! Use your favorite spaghetti sauce and it can be heated in the microwave too.

2 to 3 pound spaghetti squash (yellow fat, oblong looking) (easy to grow yourself!)

Wash the skin and pierce with a fork, better yet make some slits with a knife, I blew one of these up one time, not putting enough holes for the steam to get out.

Take a couple of paper towels and fold them place them in your microwave. Place the squash on the paper towels .

Now every microwave oven works differently but as a general rule start with about 5 to7 minutes per pound. If your oven doesn't have a tray that turns you will need to stop and turn it two times or so. If it starts hissing, poke it again!

It will get soft when it is cooked, add time as needed for cooking.

let it rest in the oven for 10 minutes, then you should be able to pick it up with a towel.

Cut it length wise. If cooked it should have long shreds very much like spaghetti. If not put it in for 1 minute at a time.

I take a fork and pull some thread into each persons place and load on the sauce and cheese. It's wonderful food. It reheats well and freezes nicely.

makes 6 servings.

Easy spaghetti sauce: If it's hot this is a good recipe but my favorite sauce requires long cooking on the store. Another time okay..

1 pound ground beef

1 can (15 oz') tomato sauce

1 pkg spaghetti sauce seasoning (1 1/2 ounces) I just toss in my own herbs

1/2 cup V-8, tomato juice or water if needed

1 can (4 1/2 ounces) mushrooms pieces with the liquid

1 can chopped ripe olives

1/2 cup instant chopped onions (or saute some fresh ones) a fast on and off the stove issue

grated Parmesan cheese

Put meat into a 2-1/2 quart casserole with a lid. Microwave 5 minutes uncovered, stirring twice to brake up the meat as it cooks. Pour off the fat carefully. Stir in seasoning, juice, mushrooms, olives and onions. Cover. Microwave 5 minutes stirring once or twice. Serve over that yummy squash above. Sprinkle with cheeses.

I have made this for my family a number of times without telling them it was squash.

This all comes from a choice cookbook, tiny in nature, called Microwave Cooking by nitty gritty productions. printed in 1976

My copy has lots of cooking stains on the pages. A sign of lots of use.