And because I can tie anything to food I have to say one of the benefits of being married to a fireman is that after a big fire...didn't matter if it was a wild land fire, commercial fire or residential fire...he always came home smelling like bbq'd chicken. It was almost comical the smoke would be in his hair, on his skin and in his clothes and all I could think of was "damn I want bbq'd chicken." Yeah I know not so hot...but funny. 

Ok back to my original story...so the other night I decided to make spaghetti squash. Everyone I had talked to and everyone on my FB page kept telling me how amazing it is so I decided to give it a try for myself. Well everyone failed to mention how friggin hard a butternut squash is and how nearly impossible it is to cook. 

So after volunteering to come over and cook for my friend I come trudging in with my butternut squash in hand. Neither of us had tried it before so we were pretty excited for the adventure until I tried to get a knife into it. I kind of looked like one of those cartoon characters that hits something hard and then reverberates for a little while due to the impact. She did the exact same thing on her try. And then to the rescue came her husband...a fireman...voila...my butternut squash was open!!! See firemen really are heroes! And he did not lose any fingers!!

The recipe called for roasting the squash. So you cut it in half, take out the seeds and sprinkle it with salt. You put olive oil on both sides and cover it with foil, roasting for about 20 minutes. You take the foil off and roast for another 35 minutes. I was so impressed because when it comes out of the oven it doesn't look like spaghetti, but seriously when you take a fork to it...it just shreds and looks like spaghetti...it is a miracle!!

This recipe called for spaghetti squash with meatballs and marinara sauce. And let me just say this recipe made me a spaghetti squash believer. It also gave me a great meatball recipe that I would totally make again!!

In a food processor blend celery, carrot, onion, garlic and parsley to make a vegetable puree. Half of it is used in the meatballs and the other half is used in the sauce. It added some great flavor to both!!

So mix the vegetable mixture with a combination of ground pork and ground beef. I actually think this recipe would be good with sausage instead of pork to give it a little spice, but that is just my opinion. Add some Italian breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese and egg. And since I love using my hands I mixed all of this together with my hands and rolled it into my meatballs. I also learned something about meatballs. This recipe calls for baking them for 10 minutes to help dry them out. This worked really well and helped them stick together better when I added them to the sauce. 

This sauce was also very easy. Saute the vegetable puree in olive oil. Add 28 oz tomato puree aka. crushed tomatoes and don't forget to use high quality tomatoes...it seriously can make all of the difference in the world. Add water, fresh basil, oregano and salt to the sauce and simmer. Add the meatballs after they are done baking and cook them until they are cooked through. 

Serve the meatballs and squash over the spaghetti squash and voila!! We had this meal with a cabernet and it was perfect...the acidity of the sauce, the dryness of the wine and the chuckles over the squash. Cheers!!

I also have to mention that I was pretty stoked when I got the vote of approval from their 2 kids...shout out to my 2 buddies who ate my butternut squash and especially liked the meatballs!!

• 1 medium spaghetti squash (about 2 pounds)
• Kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, roughly chopped
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 cup fresh parsley leaves
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound ground pork
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup Italian-style breadcrumbs
• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• 2 28-ounce cans tomato puree
• 2 large sprigs basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

Directions