Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Stuffed Acorn Squash


I'm on an extremely tight deadline right now so I dug out an old favorite from my days blogging at Healthy Writer.

I love Acorn Squash - really any kid of squash, and I especially love that you can use it as a bowl to stuff good food into - sort of like a casserole dish.

Ruthy did a similar post on pumpkins last year with Supper in a Pumpkin.

So this might be dubbed Casserole in a Squash.

I thought I had pictures of the ones I made, but apparently I didn't take any. I was probably too busy devouring it. These pictures give a pretty good sense of how it looks.

The mix for the filling can be pretty much whatever you want. I have used quinoa and dried cranberries and pecans. Sometimes I might use brown rice and lentils with apples and garam masala.
I've even seen a recipe that includes black beans, corn and kale.

My vegan daughter makes this every time she wants a comfort type food. She sometimes stuffs it with millet and an assortment of roasted veggies.

You can vary the dried fruits - cranberries, raisins, dates, apricots.
You can add in greens if you like. I generally don't like because they tend to get dry and crispy.
Celery, parsnips, carrots - pretty much anything you have on hand works well with the stuffing.

Some recipes call for sausage or ground turkey, but I've never done those.
 Here are some pictures of what it could look like -


I've made one with pearled quinoa stuffed in a mini-pumpkin.


Of course you could just drown the acorn squash in butter and maple syrup and a dash of nutmeg, but then it wouldn't be quite as healthy!


If you like video - here's Chef MD with his own recipe for stuffed acorn squash!





14 comments:

  1. I love all of this! I love serving in squash and pumpkins, and one of our pumpkin customers actually cooks stew in a pumpkin! She makes the stew and then puts in into a cleaned-out pumpkin, well oiled (rubbed with olive oil inside and out) and then roasted in the oven at 350 for an hour.

    I'd never heard of going that big, how fun!

    Cate, this looks marvelous. Wonderful. Delicious.

    I am so stinkin' hungry right now! :)

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    1. That's very cool and festive!

      My husband wants chicken pot pie for dinner tonight, but I'm craving squash.

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    2. My daughter made chicken pot pie tonight and I was craving something lighter. LOL. Looks like we're mirroring your house.

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    3. I nibbled on the crust. It was the best part. Unfortunately neither of my daughters lives at home anymore to cook for me. :(

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  2. What neat idea. I'll have to look up some recipes though. I have absolutely no creativity when it comes to making up my own. Just got a neat booklet -- an insert from a Chatelaine magazine -- and it's all lentil recipes. Bet one of them would go nicely with baked squash. Good luck on that deadline!

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    Replies
    1. Kav, go on over to my original post at Healthy Writers (back in 2010!). There are links to some other recipes. One is an apple quinoa one that I love.

      http://www.healthywriter.com/acorn-squash/

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  3. I love squash. Of course, I grew up eating it with plenty of butter and brown sugar (mmmm!), but I've been branching out over the last few years. I've never tried it stuffed, though. I'll have to put this on my lunch menu!

    Thanks for the great ideas Cate, and keep working on that deadline!

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    1. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE it with butter and brown sugar. My aging waistline, however, prefers kale!

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  4. By the way - for anyone looking to add potassium to their diet, apparently acorn squash is a really good source of it.

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  5. This is so odd, but I have all of these items in my kitchen right now! Oh, except quinoa. I still haven't tried that. I have corn squash, mini pumpkins, pecans, apricots, cranberries, corn, black beans, carrots, celery... but I
    m assuming they don't all go in together. I can make a savory batch and a sweet batch. MMMM....

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  6. Butter and brown sugar are my norm. :) But I love the savory ideas, too! I'll have to try one.

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  7. Ooo, I really should try this, Mary Cate. I usually just bake my acorn squash, add some butter and brown sugar, maybe a dash of salt, and call it good. Which it is. But stuffed as a meal, that sounds kinda good. Thanks.

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  8. do you eat the bowl or is it just decoration / functional? I've done spaghetti squash and stuffed it but I dont think I ate the shell 'cause it was kinda tough and I was already full. haven't had this kind of squash or pumpkin though
    looks good
    Susanna

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