Instructions: Heres an all-vegetable, two-course meal that is filled with ingredients we associate with winter.

If youve never experienced the fun of creating spaghetti-like strands by pulling apart the aptly named spaghetti squash, you are in for a treat.

Mushrooms cooked with tomato, garlic, herbs and a dash of ground red pepper make a full-flavored, satisfying topping for the squash.

Furthermore, having a "pasta" without flour or eggs means we can treat ourselves to a starchy first course. The addition of the sweet-sour vinegar reduction and dabs of blue cheese takes our potato to a whole new level of taste.

This is an adaptation of a recipe developed by New York City chef Bobby Flay.

Time-saving tips

The trick in preparing this vegetarian meal with elan lies in the sequence of preparation.

Begin by cooking the spaghetti squash and heating the oven. While the squash steams, do the vinegar-honey syrup for the potato, slice the potato and combine the spices, herb, salt, pepper and oil in a bowl. Toss the potato slices with the spice mixture.

Next, prepare the tomato-mushroom sauce. As the sauce cooks, pull apart the spaghetti squash and place it in a microwave-proof dish. Arrange the potato slices on the baking sheet and roast them.

Cover the sauce and keep warm. Just before, or just after, eating the potato, reheat the spaghetti squash and serve.

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