I have been meaning to make stuffed squash for 2 weeks and finally found some time! It started when i saw this recipe on Leek Soup and I had fennel and squash from the CSA, so, perfect, right?

I am still working on cutting down on dairy products, my favorite of all the food groups, and this was a ridiculous success, although I ended up omitting the fennel because it smelled far too licorice-y for my tastes.

Serves – 6. I only had one squash, but should have had 3.

Nutrition – Yes ma’am! and next time I’ll use ground turkey or veggies instead and make it even healthier.

Ingredients

3 acorn squash*
1 lb ground meat or veggie of choice, i used super lean beef
1 cup of quinoa
2 cups of water
1/2 onion* diced
1 clove garlic* minced
1/4 cup parsley* chopped into bits
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp fresh ground sea salt
1 tsp good quality olive oil
2 TB pine nuts

Step 1 – Preheat Oven to 400 degrees. Halve your acorn squash and scoop out his seeds and strings. cut off enough on each end so that you can sit it flat on your pan. Spritz with olive oil and bake for 45 minutes.

Step 2 – While that bakes, chop and prep for 15 minutes, and then heat your oil in a sauce pan. I like smushy onions so I cooked them now, the recipe I followed saves them for later, which i am going to try next time. So add your onions and cook for a few minutes, and then add your meat,cinnamon and nutmeg, breaking up and stirring with a slotted metal spatula until done. Then use the spatula to transfer to another bowl, leaving the juices in your pan.

Step 3 – add your garlic (and onions if saved) to the juices and cook for a couple minutes, then add your quinoa and stir, then add salt and water and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and cover. Let cook for about 15 minutes, or until all water is absorbed. While that cooks, your squash should finish baking, so take it out of the oven and replace with pine nuts to toast.

Step 4 – Add parsley and pine nuts to your quinoa mixture and stir.

Step 5 – Add back your meat, and scoop out squashes into the pan, leaving a 1/8 rim of flesh on the cooked squash. Mix Well.

Step 6 – Scoop mixture into your empty squash bowls and bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Garnish with parsley and serve!

Since i only had the one squash, I had about 2/3rds of the filling left over, which is amazing on its own and will make for an awesome lunch at work on Monday.

Consensus – So amazing that I didn’t miss the dairy. I would love to find bison as the original recipe used next time, but alas, my butcher, who can find me rattlesnake if i wanted it, had none. I cant wait to make this again! What a lovely Fall dish to have come across!

*CSA ingredients