Cucurbita pepo - OOdles of Noodles

Spaghetti Squash, easy to prepare, inexpensive and fun to eat. Although it's late in the season for these veggies, they are still tender and sweet. I made the mistake of choosing too large a squash the first time I prepared it for 28 plates. Because of the size, I let it cook too long and it turned out mushy. " Waste not" being my motto, I used that squash to thicken my pasta sauce. This time I selected four 1/2 lb. gourds (at 78 cents a pound!) and timed it better.

There's a window between the kitchen and the classroom and I often pass future meal items out the window for the kids to see, feel, smell and ask questions about. I like to show them the inside of, or the unpeeled veggie or fruit. I really wanted the kidlettes to see the fun in this particular pepo and as they were passing by the window on their way outside, they all got to see the pulp and seeds being removed. It was encouraging that so many associated it with the insides of a pumpkin. When the squash was cooked and cooled, they again watched as I gently scraped the flesh with a fork and saw all those beautiful yellow "noodles" "magically" appearing. I seasoned the squash with honey butter (left from this morning's breakfast biscuit), salt, pepper and a little thyme. Served with homemade sauce (from last Friday's pizza), multigrain pasta and hand rolled meatballs, it made a pretty presentation. Getting the kids to try a bite did take a little coaxing....my favorite part of this job? Watching them go from a "No Thank-you bite" to "Please, May I have some more". Footnote here, it's Springbreak so a number of children were not in the center today, 2 pounds of in the skin squash yielded about 25 1 oz cooked servings.