Disclaimer: There are four of us in our home, five if you include the dog (which we sometimes do, but not in this case). One person enjoyed this meal, and since I'm writing the blog about it, I think we all know who that one person is. Hubby has banned not only THIS PARTICULAR recipe for spaghetti squash, but all spaghetti squash in any form, forever and ever, amen. The children...well...not too surprisingly, they agreed with their father. Traitors.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let me tell you the truth. And by that I mean...I'm not going to tell you that spaghetti squash tastes JUST LIKE regular pasta and that you'll never be able to tell the difference, because that would be a lie, and there are enough of those lies floating around Pinterest. Nonetheless...if you are a spaghetti squash fan or would like to be, this is a GREAT recipe to try.

Did I mention the sauce consists mostly of bacon grease?

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Admittedly....the squash wasn't the first thing that caught my eye when I stumbled upon this recipe. Nope....it was the goat cheese. Of course it was. But then I saw spinach and spaghetti squash, and I started justifying, and telling myself it would be healthy, and before you know it, I had added it to our weekly menu.

(Funny side bar here. I've been married long enough to know that you don't spring vegetable-based dishes on my husband. You just don't. So I showed him the picture. I very clearly said it was spaghetti squash. With bacon and goat cheese. He looked at the picture and agreed to try it. Once he actually saw me making it, however, he was disappointed to learn that when I said "spaghetti squash", that is what I literally meant. I did not mean, as he assumed, cut up squash on spaghetti noodles. But I digress.)

Back to the recipe. I haven't made spaghetti squash any other way, but I did a lot of research and polled my trusty Facebook friends, and I'm still convinced that this is the best way to cook the squash itself. IT. CAME. OUT. PERFECT.

You're probably thinking that I'm going to tell you to cut it in half. But you're wrong. Nope, you're going to slice it into rings and then dig out the seeds and guts (this can be done with a knife). Once you get the squash all sliced up, drizzle it with olive oil, salt and pepper, and lay the pieces on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Like this:

Then, slide it into a 400 degree oven and 35-40 minutes later....take it out and LET IT SET. Trust me on this....you're going to take it out and think to yourself, "No big deal....I'll just shred these bad boys with a fork. I'm not going to listen to that amateur. I don't need to let them cool down."

Which is correct. You don't NEED to. But it is SO much easier to shred them up once they're cool enough to handle. They literally turn to spaghetti "noodles" in your hands. Besides, while the squash is cooling, it gives you the perfect opportunity to get started on the good stuff.

BACON.

See....doesn't that look awesome?

Now once the bacon is cooked long enough to get most of the fat out (sauce, remember?), you take it out and add red wine vinegar and brown sugar. YUMMMM! Then, because this is a healthy meal remember, you add it back into the pan along with the spinach, which looks even more delicious, if you can believe it. See what I mean?

Last but not least is the goat cheese, and once you add that and mix it all together, you get.....

THIS.

See? You want to try it now, don't you? And thanks to BuzzFeed...you can. Here's a link to the actual recipe, with much better photos (and better instructions too).

Happy squashing!