Bloody Rotten Brain Bake – A Delicious Halloween Recipe!

October 28th, 2010

Ok, you’ve got me again. This isn’t really called Bloody Rotten Brain Bake. But, I was thinking about it and it kinda *looks* like bloody rotten brains, so, in the spirit of the season, that’s what we’re going to call it, and by it I mean, Baked Spaghetti. One of the greatest food inventions of all time! First, I’m going to give you the old school recipe, and then I’ll give you my little weight watchersish substitutions that’ll make this baby only 5 points per gooey delicious serving.

Ingredients:

1 box of spaghetti
1 stick of butter
1 can of tomato sauce
1 block of cheddar cheese, shredded

Method:

Cook up your spaghetti in a pot, drain it and put it into a large bowl. Mix it with the sauce and the butter until the butter is fully melted. Next, add half of your cheese and mix well again. Now, pour all of this into a baking pan. Cover with the rest of the cheese and some aluminum foil and bake in the oven at about 350 for half an hour or so. Take it out of the oven and give it about ten minutes to “set” and there you go. That’s it! You’ll get 8 huge pieces from this recipe. This freezes RIDICULOUSLY well, and goes surprisingly wonderfully with a side of tuna fish and bagels.

Now, lets get serious. This recipe, as shown above is DEADLY for anyone over 25. The adult metabolism doesn’t see this as comfort food, it sees it as belly fat fertilizer. I know this. I have wrestled with this. So, what to do? Make it just as delicious, but a little less deadly. So we take:

1 box of Smart Taste Spaghetti (hero to the waistline conscious, it tastes JUST like regular white flour pasta, but it’s SO much better for you. You can also use whole wheat spaghetti, but, surprise! There are actually MORE calories in the whole wheat and LESS fiber! What the what? I know! It’s crazy but true. The more you knoooow (little shooting star.)

2 Tbsp of Smart Balance Spread (use light or not, or any other reduced fat spread.) It’s funny how all of this stuff has “smart” in the title, when it should be “lard ass butter” and fatty fat fat pasta, but, I’ll take smart, sure, why not. The thing is, a whole stick of butter is INSANE! You don’t really need that, trust me. You’re just looking to lube up the spaghetti, not drown it. Add a pinch of sea salt and you won’t miss it.

1 can of tomato sauce – still the same! A can of tomato sauce never hurt anything except skunk stink!

1 package of reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese be it sargento or whatever, use something made with 2%. You’re going to pay a little more a the checkout and a little less when zipping up your pants. Such is life.

Optionally, pop in some chopped up onions to the mix before the final cheese sprinkle. It’ll add some crunch and flavor and make you feel like you’re not just eating a massive pasta cheese pie, which you are.

Cook it in the exact same method as the unhealthy version and you’re good to go. Gooey brain looking squares of amazing yum.

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