Spaghetti Squash with Lemon Cream Sauce

I'm a straight forward kind of girl and I like my food to be straightforward too.  I don't want to eat cauliflower that's mascarading as potatoes.🥔 I'm not interested in snacking on crispy bits of kale, passing themselves off as chips. 🥬And I certainly don't want to eat squash under a false "pasta" pretense.  🍝  

Don't get me wrong - I actually like cauliflower, kale AND squash - I just want my vegetables to be vegetables and my carbs to be carbs. Can we all just stop pretending that vegetables are other things?   I don't care how you slice them or what you add to them - beets still tastes like beets. 😅

When I was first introduced to spaghetti squash, I was fooled by its clever name.  I wanted to treat the long tender vegetable strands just like their wheat based counterparts.  I put it in a bowl and covered it with pasta sauce and served it to my poor unsuspecting family.  🤣 The taste is fine, the problem comes when your brain tries to reconcile the difference between the spaghetti like dish that you see and the vegetable that you taste. 

Once I learned to treat my spaghetti squash like the vegetable that it is and not a carb, we got along much better.  Southwest Spaghetti Squash and Spaghetti Squash Scampi are some of our favorite ways to eat the delectable gourd.  Today, I'm adding  Spaghetti Squash with Lemon Cream Sauce to our repertoire.  If you're a fan of squash - you will love this.  

Spaghetti Squash with Lemon Cream Sauce
1 spaghetti squash, halved crosswise
3 Tablespoons butter
6 fresh thyme sprigs
1/4 cup fresh sage (or 1 teaspoon dried sage) 
2 Tablespoon pumpkin seeds
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup half and half (or heavy cream)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon lemon zest + 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
​Parmesan cheese

Season squash with salt and pepper and place in a 9x13" baking dish.  

Add 3/4 cup water and thyme to pan and bake 35-45 minutes at 400.

Let cool.  Scrape squash with fork to create strands.  

Return squash to baking dish and toss in remaining liquid.  Transfer to a bowl.

Melt butter in skillet.  Add sage and pumpkin seeds. Cook 1-2 minutes. 

Remove pan from heat.  Transfer 1/2 of seeds and sage to paper towel.

Add garlic, cream, lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper to skillet.  Bring to a boil.  

Add squash and cook while tossing gently 2-4 minutes. 

Sprinkle with thyme and reserved seeds and sage.  Serve with cheese. 

I got so excited about this squash that I totally forgot to add the cheese.  Oh well.  It was delicious - even without it.  For me, this is a main course but you could serve it as a side dish as well.  

Ciao!

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