Roasted & Stuffed Acorn Squash

Columbus Day = no work!!  With this great gift of a three day weekend after coming off a month of travel,  I am putting it to great use…cooking, exercising, cleaning, prepping for fall, and yes, catching up on all the fall shows I keep missing during the week (gotta love Scandal and Quantico!).  After a 6 mile walk through Chicago and along the waterfront this morning, I decided to keep up the clean and healthy eating by making this acorn squash recipe I stumbled upon.  I loved that it was a full meal, vs just eating the squash as a side dish.  It is very filling and scrumptious!

 Ingredients

2 acorn squash

Olive oil
Salt
Fresh cracked black pepper
¼ onion, finely diced
¼ lb Ground Turkey (or lean ground beef)
2 cloves garlic, diced
Pinch cumin

Pinch cayenne pepper

1 cup cooked brown rice
½ cup black beans
¼ cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2 cup shredded sharp white cheddar cheese

Directions

Cook the brown rice on the stove according to package directions. While the brow rice is cooking preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and line a baking sheet with foil. Prepare the acorn squash by cutting off the bottom “point” to create a flat surface (don’t take too much off), and also cut the stem part off to create another flat surface, again taking care to not cut too much off.

Next, cut the squash in half width-wise, in the center, creating 4 halves; scoop the seeds and strings out, drizzle a little bit of olive oil into each of the 4 halves, and add a couple of pinches of salt and pepper to each half; place each squash half onto the baking sheet with the cavity facing down, and roast for roughly 35 minutes, or until the flesh is fork tender; remove from the oven, and allow the squash to cool slightly until they can be handled; leave the oven on.

While the squash roasts, cook the ground beef by placing a medium-size non-stick pan over medium-high heat.  To start, drizzle in about 1 tablespoon of olive oil - once the oil is hot, add in the onion and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes.

Next, add in the ground beef and break it up with a spoon/spatula into small crumble.  Add in a couple of pinches of salt and pepper, the cumin, and cayenne pepper.  Allow the beef to finish browning, then turn the heat off, put into a large bowl.

Add to the cooked brown rice, black beans, the quartered cherry tomatoes, the chopped cilantro and cheese to the bow with the ground beef.  Add another pinch of salt and pepper if needed, and set the mixture aside for a moment, keeping warm.

Spoon equal portions of the beef/rice mixture into the cavity of each squash half and place the halves back onto the baking sheet and into the oven to bake for an additional few minutes just to warm through the mixture.  Enjoy!

Recipe Source: The Cozy Apron

Picture Source: Lindsay Klindt