Late last night I changed the name of this blog from Real Food Year to Real Food Forever. I’ll still post every day for the first year (not necessarily forever). But the point is that once you make real food part of your life and realize that you’re celebrating a healthy lifestyle and expressing respect for your mind and body at almost every meal, it will be a lifestyle change you’ll never regret.
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I’ve been trying to get around to stuffing acorn squash since before Thanksgiving; this is the second pair of squash and they finally made it into the oven. Change the spices in the rice mixture according to what you like, but don’t duplicate what’s in your sausage. For example, if you have sage sausage, don’t add more sage. You can also add more vegetables and rice instead of adding sausage.
Stuffed Acorn Squash
2 acorn squash, halved and seeded
2 T butter or vegan margarine
2 T maple syrup
1/8 t each nutmeg, cinnamon, sea salt, ground pepper
1 T avocado oil
1/2 – 1 pound Italian or vegie sausage
1/2 C chopped onion
1/4 C chopped mushrooms
1 stalk finely chopped celery
1/2 t rosemary
1/4 t paprika
1 apple, finely chopped
1 C cooked grain (quinoa, rice, etc.)
Preheat oven to 375. Cut a slight bit off of the top and bottom of the squash so it is flat on both ends. Cut the squash in half across the middle and set on the flattened tops and bottoms. Scoop out the seeds.
Microwave the butter, syrup, and four spices 30 seconds to melt butter and stir. Put a tablespoon of the syrup mixture into each squash half and brush it around the inside and tops edges; save any extra. Bake squash 45 minutes to soften the flesh.
Meanwhile cook the grain according to package instruction.
Heat the oil in a pan over medium-low heat; add the sausage, onion, mushrooms, celery, rosemary, and paprika. Chop the meat into small pieces as it browns and mixes in with the other ingredients.
Scrape about half of the flesh out of the acorn squash halves and add it to the sausage mixture. Add the rice and combine everything well. Fill the squash bowls with your stuffing mixture. Sprinkle bread crumbs over the top. Drizzle over any remaining syrup mixture. Bake 20 minutes.
