Healthy Fried Rice and Spaghetti Squash

I was so tempted to pick up Chipotle on the way home from class yesterday, but I somehow convinced myself that I should apply whatever cooking skills (or lack thereof) I had with the food in my kitchen. Why spend money when it's not necessary?

Since Chipotle now has brown rice, I thought that I could do a fun at-home recreation of a burrito bowl. I didn't have avocados to make guacamole, though, so I tried to think of something else I could do with brown rice. It then dawned on me: I LOVE fried rice! Why not make a healthy version of it? 

I pulled out brown rice, veggies that needed to be eaten, and one egg. 

I love rice that cooks quickly. The boil-in-the-bag rice took me ten minutes to prepare. 

While waiting for the rice to cook, I chopped up celery, carrots, onions and yellow pepper. I threw the onions in the skillet and then put everything else in when they started to brown. 

Once the rice was cooked, I added it to the skillet. I also tipped in some teriyaki sauce and aji mirin. I preferred soy sauce, but I couldn't find any in the pantry. 

Last, I cracked the egg and let it cook into the rice and veggies. 

It was great! I'm so glad that I was able to make my own version of it. 

Dinner was even more of an adventure. I learned about spaghetti squash when I started reading healthy living blogs, and I always wanted to buy and prepare one. I bought one the last time I was home visiting, but I forgot about it before I went back to Australia. My parents never used it, so it went in the trash. I bought another one last week, so I was determined to not repeat that mistake!

There it is! What a cute little pumpkin-looking thing!

Cutting the squash was an adventure of its own. It took me about twenty minutes. I really wish that my dad or Alastair were around, but I was all by myself (with the pups, and I knew they would not be much help). I needed two knives (one serrated and one butcher knife) to do the job. I was extremely careful, because I knew that one false move could lead to a maimed hand. By some miracle, I managed cut it in two without injuries!

I scooped out the seeds and the soft part in the middle, and then I put the halves face-up in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes.  

After the oven came the most exciting part: making the "spaghetti". I took a fork and scraped and scraped and scraped. The flesh started coming off in strings and looked like spaghetti. That's why it's called "spaghetti squash"!

Like pasta, there are a gazillion ways you can prepare the squash. I decided to eat it the same way I would eat spaghetti: with pasta sauce and parmesan cheese!

Eat me!

What a great pasta substitute and an awesome way to have fun with a healthy squash. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. Guys, it actually looks like pasta, and the texture is hearty. You can even twirl it around your fork! 

I am a vegetable disguised as pasta!

Tonight, I had the other half. I prepared it the same way, but I added cottage cheese too. I am that cool. And yes, it tasted very good. Don't dis till you try! Don't even start!

After dinner, I dug into a bag of plain semisweet chocolate chips (hey, it happens). After a few handfuls, I made cookie dough. I didn't bake it. I just ate it. Again, it happens.

The good news is that the recipe didn't have any butter or white sugar. I also only took a few bites and put the rest in the fridge. Sometimes, my self-control just overwhelms me. That, and the fact that I felt sick from chocolate chips. Check out Chocolate Covered Katie's recipe for healthy cookies (or dough!). 

Have a great night!