Cooking vegan isn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done.  In fact, it ranks right up there with flossing and unloading the dishwasher.  It just wasn’t an easy thing to start doing.  The thing that helps me is visiting farmers markets and buying fresh produce to cook with.  Ever since I noticed that much of the produce I was purchasing from grocery stores was being imported from Mexico, I have made a huge effort to buy local.  Something about buying kiwis in December just doesn’t seem right to me.

Stephanie and I visited the Ypsilanti Farmers’ Market at the Corner Brewery the other night, and I came across something I never had any urge whatsoever to try.  Spaghetti Squash. In fact, I had never even seen a spaghetti squash before.  I’m sure I’ve walked past them in the grocery store on my way to the meat department, but I always had other things on my mind.  Namely, pork.  I just wasn’t sure what to think.  Spaghetti squash?  What the hell is it?  Does it really shred like spaghetti noodles?  Have I ever even had squash before?  Do I like it?   Ok, enough questions..

I wasn’t sure what to think about eating a Rugby ball, but I had to give it a shot.  The thing was only a dollar.  How could I lose?  I worked up some courage(which was aided by a pint or two at the brewery) and began my prep.  I figured the only way to cook the thing was to bake it until it got soft.  I had to make sure didn’t my Rugby ball to explode, so I poked holes in it before cooking.  Apparently this was a good idea.  Large vegetables are known to explode in high temperatures.  Is that common knowledge?  I sure didn’t know.

About an hour in the oven on 350 degrees, and you get your squash looking like this.  Nice and soft.  No longer any resemblence to a ball used in any kind of a contact sport.  It looked more like Dr. Bunsen Honeydew.  Check it out.

I let Dr. Honeydew sit out on the counter for about 10 mins and the juices leaked all over the counter.  That was kind of gross.  Going to have to figure that one out for next time.  I cut the thing in half and what’s inside is crazy.  It’s not like you have to grab a spoon and scrape out big chunks of squash.  It just flows out in strands that look exactly like spaghetti.  To be honest I was a little creeped out.  Why was this vegetable trying to impersonate one of my favorite childhood foods?  I decided to overlook this and give it a chance.  Frankly, I was just curious at this point.

I threw some Bove’s Roasted Garlic Marinara on top, sautéed some broccoli in garlic, and made some gigantic homemade garlic bread, and we had ourselves a meal.  Simple, nothing special, but absolutely delicious.  This stuff is legit.  It has the same texture as spaghetti and tastes pretty similar, but has a slightly different flavor.  When I say different flavor here, I mean a delicious different flavor.  I’m getting pretty good at this whole vegan thing.  I don’t prefer it over my usual meat filled dinners, but it’s just nice to share a meal with my lady every now and then.

I’m trying to figure out why that garlic bread looks so big….