Stuffed Acorn Squash Cups

Today's post  is all about breaking out of the same old same old veggie side dishes for dinner. Getting in the produce aisle and looking for inspiration.  These cute acorn squash just jumped out and said "pick me pick me!"  I couldn't resist  thinking I could use them as individual little vessels for a meal. They are just the right size for a single serving, and their cup like shape would hold just about anything I wanted to stuff into them. Yup they were coming home with me.

 Here are the ingredients I put together for their filling. You can modify any or all the ingredients to suit your needs. Even add some ground meat to the mix and viola! An entire meal in one fell swoop. Don't we  love that being as busy as we all are these days. I love to cook but sometimes I do not want or have the time to spend all day in the kitchen.

2 small acorn squash
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 onion ,diced
1/2 stalk celery, small diced
handful of fresh or frozen cranberries and raisins
salt, pepper, ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon to taste (I hardly ever measure these ingredients)

 

Sautéed the garlic, onion and celery until just translucent. Set aside.

Onto those cutie squashes. Cut the tops off  the squash and save to the side. I also removed a bit of the bottom (so they stand flat in the baking dish).Remove the seeds and any membrane. Hollow out so you have a nice well so to speak where you can place your stuffing mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Any extra squash meat can be chopped up and tossed into the stuffing mixture.

Now return your cooked veggies back to the stovetop and add the cranberries, raisins, seasonings and because I thought it would be extra delish added some par cooked rice. Heat through just until the cranberries start to pop and everything starts to come  together as one.
Cool the stuffing mixture  so you can handle it and divide equally among the acorn squash.

Don't they look great. Now add a bit of water to the bottom of the baking dish, cover with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. You can check doneness by piercing the side of the squash with a knife. If it slides in easily they are good to go.

Hope you try this soon. Leave me a comment and let me know if you did.

Until tomorrow eat well, live well