This post is about spaghetti.

So, I messed up my initial weigh-in for DietBet. I forgot that "Airport Security Attire" meant don't wear shoes. And they sent me an e-mail today saying I have to send in another picture... which I have to do tomorrow while I'm at the gym in town. Whoops.

It's still not too late to join in! by the way... (The pot is $3225 right now... just saying.)

Today I decided to take the day off from the gym and let my mind and body rest a little. I did, however, stop by the gym to take my faulty weigh-in photos. 

I also stopped by the grocery store and stocked up on some healthy stuff to help me kick this DietBet's ass. I got some plain non-fat greek yogurt, pears, more kiwis, protein drinks, salsa, and a spaghetti squash.

First off, I just realized last night that spaghetti squash is a type of squash that naturally looks and feels like spaghetti. I've seen so many recipes featuring spaghetti squash lately and I've always thought wow someone went out of their WAY to turn squash into spaghetti. Like I thought there was some machine that people had in their kitchen that turned zucchini into noodles or something. 

I once was lost, but now I'm found.

Have you never heard of a spaghetti squash, either? It's okay. You're not alone.

This is what it looks like:

Spaghetti squash is a winter squash that is usually available all year round. It's large and hard on the outside and yellow (or white or orange) in color. You can find it in the produce section at your grocery store.

Cooking it is super easy. You can do it in the microwave, in the oven, in a crock pot, and many other ways. I decided to roast mine in the oven tonight and here's how I did it.

• I preheated the oven to 375 degrees.
• I cut the spaghetti squash in half (long ways) and picked the seeds out of the middle (kind of like pulling seeds out of a pumpkin.
• After the seeds were out, I took a rubber sauce brush (is that what you call it?) and rubbed olive oil on both halves - trying to cover every bit of the inside.
• Then I sprinkled a little salt and pepper on it and waited for the oven to get ready.
• I roasted it at 375 for 50 minutes (but checked it at 40 minutes). I put a little more olive oil on the places that looked dry when I checked it.
• When it was done, I pulled it out and let it rest for 10 minutes. It was HOT.
• Now comes the fun part: I took a fork and scraped the insides of it lengthwise and the squash comes out in little noodles. 

This container is larger than it looks in this picture! I was eating spaghetti squash meals for an entire week!

My squash weighed about 6 lbs. It was literally the size of your average newborn baby. And I'll have spaghetti squash for more than a few days now. But I'm excited to try it in different dishes and figure out some fun recipes.

And news flash: It's good for you!

1 Cup of spaghetti squash has:

• 42 calories
• 10 g of carbs
• 0.40 g of fat (only 0.1 of which is saturated fat)
• 1 g of protein
• 2 g of dietary fiber
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin B6
• Niacin
• Vitamin B5
• Potassium
• Manganese
• Calcium
• Iron
• Magnesium
• Zinc
• And only 28 mg of sodium!

Tonight I had some left over chicken and vegetables in tomato sauce with mine. I just heated up the chicken, threw it on top of the spaghetti squash, and sprinkled a little bit of Parmesan cheese on it. It was delish!

The next time I'm home, I'm going to try to trick the boyfriend into eating it. He's kind of skeptical of uber healthy things - but he loves spaghetti!

Stay tuned tomorrow for my final, acceptable DietBet weigh-in pictures.

PS. I cracked and ordered some new Jillian Michael's DVDs on Amazon last night. I can't wait to try them out and tell you what I think. I'm sure they're going to kick my ass - but I'm Team Jill all the way so I'm sure I'll like it! I got: 30 Day Shred, Ripped in 30, and Six Pack in Six Weeks. I've done the first level of 30 Day Shred before. And I still have nightmares about it... (joking?)

Here's to February! I'm pulling out all the stops this month!