Haute & Healthy: New Snacks

One of my issues in maintaining healthy eating habits is that I love to snack.  Its funny because I actually hate the word snack, my kids use it often, after they eat they want a snack, like immediately after any meal they are asking for a snack as if its a reward for finishing their food. 

I guess that idea of a reward is why snacking is my vice.  I mean think about it, snacks are marketed in the most fun ways, the brightest, most lively, most entertaining situations we see when it comes to food marketing involve snacks.

I had to keep my snack options but make more healthy choices with variety.  I cant snack on veggies and fruit only, wheres the crunch?  I now make it a point to look for snacks geared towards vegans as much as I can.  Here are a few things ive picked up (the oatmeal is not really a snack but was a great find because steel cut oatmeal takes a while to cook), which I am happy to report that although the taste profile may take some getting used to, they are rather tasty.

Haute & Healthy: Spaghetti Squash

Last night I decided to try a dish that I've had in my head for a few weeks.

I visited Whole Foods one day and had the "garlicky pasta" from the hot bar.  Bad breath be damned it was so good.  Just plain spaghetti noodles with roasted garlic tossed in olive oil.  Simply delicious.

I wanted to recreate it at home but figured it would be interesting to try it with spaghetti squash instead.  I also wanted more of a tomato sauce so I added a bit more veggies to the mix: roma tomatoes, white onion, white mushrooms and tomatillos.

For those that are unfamiliar, spaghetti squash looks just like your garden variety (pun intended) squash.  The difference is when you cook it up the flesh scoops out in strands that look just like spaghetti noodles.

As for tomatillo its a vegetable of the nightshade variety that is often used in mexican cuisine.  It has a light citrus taste.

It was fairly easy to prepare the ingredients, I simply roasted the squash and garlic in the oven after brushing with Wegmans basting oil. I sauteed the other veggies in a pan with olive oil.  I seasoned with Trader Joes lemon pepper seasoning.

I actually liked how it turned out.  I also gave some to Sam the girl (my daughter) and she ate it with no problem, she actually loves vegetables though.

I sampled the leftovers this morning and it actually tastes even better so I think this recipe is a keeper.  I would say total prep and cooking time is an hour, cause it took me a while to get the dern squash open.  I think I need to ask "Santa" for some ginsu knives or something.  I went through a good five knives!  It takes 30-45 minutes to roast the veggies in the oven.

Here are pics of the adventure!