in keeping with our objective of getting and staying healthy, kai has teamed up with author and recipe developer gina homolka of skinnytaste.com. busy, married mom of two girls, gina's food philosophy is "to eat seasonal, clean, whole foods and maintain good portion control." easy to follow and super tasty, gina's recipes have taken the guess work out of meal time. sounds good to me. i'm planning on making her cacio e pepe this weekend! great food without the guilt. it can be done!

gina's best recipe, hands down? "exercise + a well balanced diet + good sleep = a happy life."

xo,
gaye.
cacio e pepe roasted spaghetti squash

serves 2

cacio e pepe means “cheese and pepper” in italian. those are two of the five ingredients in this super simple dish, which traditionally involves tossing pasta with olive oil, pecorino romano cheese, and plenty of black pepper. i’ve made it low-carb and lighter by swapping out the pasta for spaghetti squash. fast, simple, and delicious.

1 medium spaghetti squash (2 3⁄4 pounds)
1 1⁄2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1⁄2 cup finely grated pecorino romano cheese (i like locatelli)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 

preheat the oven to 400°F. line an 18 x 13-inch rimmed sheet pan with foil.

halve the squash lengthwise and use a spoon to scrape out the seeds and stringy yellow strands, then discard. season the flesh with a pinch of salt and pepper to taste and place the squash cut side down on the prepared pan.

bake until the flesh can be easily pierced with a fork, 55 to 60 minutes. remove the pan from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes.

using a fork, scrape out the squash flesh into a bowl; it will separate into spaghetti-like strands.add the olive oil, pecorino romano, and 1⁄2 teaspoon pepper. toss well and serve immediately.

per serving 1 1/2  cups 
calories 478 
fat 18 g 
saturated fat 6 g
cholesterol 22 mg 
carbohydrate 74 g 
fiber 12.5 g 
protein 16 g 
sugars 14 g 
sodium 442 mg