For this week’s recipe, Jason says the secret ingredient is there is no secret ingredient

Conviction becomes perceived reality. Two people can look at the same set of hard facts or have the same experience, and come away with two completely different stories on what it meant or what happened. Studies have shown that presenting hard data contradicting a firmly held belief just further entrenches whatever idea that person holds dear in their mind.

I used that for my own benefit as a teenager. I would never eat lunch in the school cafeteria, because even back then I understood that limp microwaved pizza is not a vegetable, and whatever that hamburger patty was made of, beef was probably about sixth on the ingredient list.

During the winter months, that meant I was out in the freezing weather for thirty minutes. If I focused on how cold I was, I would shiver and be miserable until it was time to go to class again. However, if I started telling myself that I was hot, and really started to believe I was hot, the shivering would stop. I would even sing Beach Boys songs in my head to convince myself I was in the tropics, and it worked every time.

Within minutes I would stop shivering, and the cold no longer affected me. I would use that trick a few years later in Navy boot camp. If the situation was hard or physically demanding, I could in essence turn it off and then no matter how far I had to run or how many push-ups I had to do, it was not a problem. My conviction became my reality.

There was also a study where a group of people were given the same diet and weight lifting program. The control group was given nothing, and the test group was given a supplement that they were told would boost their muscle gains, but it was actually a placebo. The group that believed they were taking the magic strength booster had considerable gains in both weight lifted and reps completed over the control group.

That’s why there’s no point in trying to convince someone of anything, really.

Two sayings come to mind. It’s easy to forgive someone for being wrong, but almost impossible to forgive them for being right, and correct a wise man and he will appreciate you, correct a fool and he will hate you.

That’s why I’ll never try to convince anyone to change their eating habits to improve their health or how they feel on a daily basis. All I will say is if you do truly want to change, you need to change your own reality. If you believe a food will taste good, it probably will, and if you believe it will taste bad, then you will hate it.

Whether it does or not is pretty much up to what you want to believe. The film Kung Fu Panda sums it up perfectly:

That applies to making noodles or defeating an angry snow leopard hell bent on revenge. Since we have no long standing martial arts grudge that I am aware of, I will focus on noodles.

Spaghetti squash makes delicious noodles, if you believe in it. They bring a nuttiness and sweetness to the party that regular old pasta noodles are lacking. There is no secret ingredient needed, just a little know-how on technique. And if you pair it with a sauce you make yourself instead of a jar of pre-made stuff, you can make it spectacular.

Pre-made sauces are packed with sodium, high fructose corn syrup, and soybean oils for…well…no one knows why. My guess is they hold a lot of stock options in diabetes medicine, but it’s probably more because those are super cheap shelf stable ingredients that they sell for a huge profit.

Either way, they can keep their secret ingredients. We don’t need them. A pasta sauce can be a very simple thing to make, and this one will amaze you at how easy it is to make, and how amazing it tastes. You just have to believe you can make it, and that it tastes great. No secret ingredient needed.

Spaghetti Squash noodles with cherry tomato sauce and breaded chicken breasts

Ingredients

2 spaghetti squash

1 carton organic cherry tomatoes

3 cloves garlic

1 block of feta cheese

4 – 6 pasture raised chicken breasts

Olive oil

Italian seasonings, sea salt and pepper

Almond flour

1 egg

Whole Milk

Swiss cheese, sliced

Directions:

Cut the spaghetti squash in half – not lengthwise – which will create longer noodles and make it much easier to cut. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Bake cut side down for about 1 hour at 400 degrees:

Prepare the chicken by pounding it flat, season with salt and pepper. Fill a pie pan with almond flour and season it with Italian seasonings of your choice like oregano, basil, thyme, and rosemary. Make an egg wash with one egg mixed with about 1/4 cup of whole milk. Dip each chicken breast in the egg wash, then coat in the almond flour. Store in the fridge until ready to cook in the air fryer or bake in the oven:

Set the feta cheese block in a 10 inch cast iron skillet and add the cherry tomatoes that have been washed and split in half. Dice the three cloves of garlic and add those along with more Italian seasonings, then drizzle with 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Place in the oven with the squash with about 30 minutes to go:

With about 20 minutes to go, air fry the chicken breasts until they hit an internal temp of 170 degrees and are crispy, brown, and delicious. Top with the swiss cheese and broil until melted, one to two minutes:

Once the squash is cool enough to handle without losing your fingerprints, flip them over and scoop out the noodles with a fork into a casserole dish: