Monica and Daria say:

If any of you are regulars on Facebook, you may have seen a post for a delicious way to make acorn squash.

The stuffing looked amazing and had sausage and lots of gooey cheese in it.

While we are sure that it tasted as good as it looked, we decided to make a vegetarian and

gluten-free (of course) stuffing for our acorn squash.

After washing and removing the seeds from our squashes, we roasted them with a little olive oil and pumpkin pie spices.

What an aroma! The whole kitchen was happy!

 

 

 

While the squash was roasting, we chose our ingredients for the stuffing.

 

What would be a better base for a stuffing than some yummy quinoa?

Yes, quinoa it would be!

And what delectable food ingredients can we add to the base?

How about our favorite Honeycrisp apples for crunch…

some scallions for savory flavor…

fresh parsley to make it vibrant…

chopped walnuts for extra protein…

dried cranberries for a wee bit of sweetness…

and lemon zest to pump it up!

 

Here is the step-by-step recipe for you!

Acorn Squash with Quinoa Stuffing

Ingredients:

2 acorn squashes

Olive oil

Pumpkin pie spice

1 cup quinoa

1 Honeycrisp apple, chopped

2-3 scallions, diced

Handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Handful of chopped walnuts

Handful of dried cranberries

1 whole lemon, plus zest

2 T sunflower oil

Salt and pepper

 

Directions:

Cut 2 acorn squashes in half; remove seeds.

Drizzle each piece with olive oil.

Sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook quinoa according to package directions. Place one cup dry quinoa into 2 cups of water, bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.

While quinoa is cooking, chop the Honeycrisp apple into bite-size pieces. Dice scallions and chop fresh parsley. Chop a handful of walnuts. Set aside in a bowl.

Now add a handful of dried cranberries to the bowl.

When quinoa is done, remove from the pot and spread on a cookie sheet to cool slightly.

Make the dressing with the juice of one whole lemon, add some zest from the lemon and combine with sunflower oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Now assemble the dish by placing squash onto each plate and fill the cavity of each squash half with the quinoa stuffing.

     © 2015, Monica & Daria of glutenfreedoubletalk

 

Note:   We started out with three acorn squashes and when we cut into them, we ended up with only two! Make sure you look at them carefully when purchasing them!

 

You will have more stuffing than you need but guess what?

It’s a great lunch for tomorrow, without the squash!

This dinner was not very labor intensive and it was delightful!

Enjoy as much squash as you can while it’s at its best!

Happy roasting!

© 2015, Monica & Daria of glutenfreedoubletalk