Stuffed Acorn Squash

I never knew I would love this kind of squash so much until last fall when I tried an Acorn Squash as part of my meal plan when I was doing the Core De Force program. 

I enjoyed it back then, but I never stuffed them or put any type of topping on them.  It was great just simple and plain with a little salt and pepper. 

When I heard about this idea...I knew I'd love it. So I ran with it and WE LOVED IT!  I even had the leftover half tonight for a quick dinner in the microwave.  It was still just as yummy!

I used Chicken Sausage - which I had never tried before. It was a quick pick up at my fav grocery, Aldi's.  $2.99 for a 4 pack - and it was stuffed already with Spinach and Feta.  I knew it would work perfectly with this recipe.

This Stuffed Acorn Squash with Sausage, Spinach, and Feta is as delicious as it is beautiful, right?  But, it’s also versatile, you can totally sub your favorite protein, veggies and cheese to fit your tastebuds.  Or to add variety to your meal planning! 

We talked about adding taco seasoned ground turkey and topping it with cheese and guacamole.  Can you say - YUMMO?

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Ingredients:

• 2 Acorn Squash
• 4 tsp olive oil
• 1 lb poultry sausage (mine was chicken with feta and spinach)
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 cups of spinach, chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 cup of feta cheese (or sub your favorite cheese)
• sea or Himalayan salt, pepper

Directions:

1. Pre-heat over to 400 degrees.
2. Cut your squash in half, scoop out the seeds.
3. Roast the squash with some salt and olive oil.  I cooked mine cut side up because the squash caramelizes during the roasting process, but plenty of other people steam it face down.
4. While the squash is roasting, brown sausage in a skillet until cooked through. Next, add in remaining olive oil and garlic to the pan. Mix in spinach and sprinkle mixture with a little salt. Cook until spinach wilts.

5. After about 40 minutes, your squash should be ready.  It should be easy to mash, but it should still retain it’s shape so you can use the squash half as a bowl!  

6. Stuff that squash. Yum!  You could eat them as is, but because my sausage had some feta in it, I decided to top mine with some extra feta cheese. I could eat that right out of the container.  Basically, cheese it up with your favorite because you can’t go wrong. 

7.  A couple more minutes back in the oven to melt the cheese and you are ready to enjoy a delicious, veggie filled dinner! 

Nutrition:
If you are using the portion control containers, it fits nicely into your plan.

• Serving size: 1 acorn half
• Container count: 1 Red, 1 1/2 Green, 1/2 Blue, 1 tsp