Spaghetti Squash

Fall inspiration has struck again and it turns out pumpkin isn't the only gourd in town. After days of skeptically watching spaghetti squash recipes and how-tos flood my Pinterest feed, I finally took the plunge.

It was a last minute decision at the grocery store. In fact, I had totally different intentions on what I would be making on one of fall's first jacket-worthy day's. Nonetheless, I decided to take the $5.83 gamble and give it a try. It was actually comical when I got home and started to begin prepping because I didn't realize how difficult it was going to be to cut through the outer skin. I must have gone through at least 4 different knives! If my mom were there watching me, she would've had a heart attack and swooped in before I "lost a finger."




(Instructions)
After I finally split it in half (long ways, btw) it was smooth sailing. I scooped out the seeds/stringy stuff and hollowed out the middle. I decided to try a tip I grabbed from thekitchn.com- turn the squash face side down on a baking dish and add a little water to the pan to prevent the squash from drying out. It worked out perfectly for me; after 40 minutes in the oven on 400 degrees and about 10 minutes of cooling time, I was able to easily scrape out the noodle-like squash.
I tried preparing it two ways: with a red sauce, and sautéed in a pan with olive oil, garlic, and spices (parsley, oregano, black pepper, salt, and crushed red pepper.) I was really impressed with how good it was with the red sauce. The squash flavor is pretty mild and whatever you pare it with will end up being the star of the show.

Now it might just be my inner Italian talking, but don't expect it to replace your craving for spaghetti because it definitely tastes like squash. BUT - if you don't go into it expecting your dish to taste exactly like angel hair, and you are open to the fact that it is not made of gluten, you will love it. Well, at least I did :)

Pumpkin Pie bites

I had every intention of writing this post with a huge red flag and a don't-try-this-at-home subtext. Honestly, I'm still not sure if I want to encourage anyone to try it out or not lol. I mean, this recipe yields a delicious guilt free pumpkin dessert (and who doesn't love pumpkin,) but they just aren't visually pleasing. Lets face it, they have a lot of personality, but she's never going to win any beauty pageants.

I found this recipe for "paleo pumpkin pie cupcakes" with a coconut whipped topping - sounds delicious right? Well they looked even better on my Pinterest board so yesterday I decided to try them out. Right off the bat it confused me; they were labeled as paleo but the instructions called for 20 to 25 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees- HUH? Nonetheless, I was craving pumpkin and I already bought all the ingredients so I went for it. But I quickly started having doubts again before I was done using the food processer. The batter was really loose and even my non-experienced gut knew that wasn't good in the baking world. That wasn't the only thing that unnerved me. I checked out the comments on the website to see how other people were faring in hopes to get some reassurance, but some of the posts were extremely negative. Still, I moved forward and continued to follow the recipe word for word.

Oh by the way, Here's what they called for:
-1 can pumpkin
-2 ripe bananas
-1/2 cup coconut sugar
-1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1/4 tsp ginger
-1/4 tsp nutmeg
-1/4 tsp sea salt

And for the whip topping:
-1 can full fat coconut milk
-2 Tbsp maple syrup
-1tsp vanilla beans

The instructions for the "cupcake" were very easy: 1) Preheat the oven to 350. 2) Line a 12 cup tin with liners 3) Throw all the ingredients in a food processer. 4) Once completely blended, pour the batter into the tin and bake for 20-25 minutes. * I baked for 35 minutes and it was completely necessary.

When I pulled them out of the oven, they looked like they dropped a little but they made my whole apartment smell like fall and that won me over. The instructions stated that the consistency is best if put in the fridge right away after baking so I did so after sneaking one :). Then today when I pulled them out of the fridge, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the tip was totally valid. They were more stable and I was able to peal the liners right off. They were by no means a cupcake, but they were a dynamite bite of pumpkin pie. Seriously, so freaking good!

And then, I made the mistake of trying to make the whipped topping. What a mistake. First off, her instructions were kind of confusing. I honestly don't know if I was supposed to use the whole can of coconut milk or just the "fatty white top" that she described. (If you ask me, the whole can was fatty and white?) And then I really messed it up by using 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract instead of 1tsp of vanilla bean - it tasted like alcohol. Not to mention, I couldn't get it to be thick and fluffy like in the original picture. All in all, the topping was a huge fail.

Looking back at everything, I would definitely try these again (without the topping.) But honestly it's the furthest thing from a cupcake... it really is pie filling. I might even like to find a nice crust recipe to pair it back to. I'll let you know how it goes!

My Sad excuse for a whipped topping!