Stuffed Squash

2012 will be the Year of Vegetables for me and my family. This is a great, easy and satisfying dish to get the ball rolling. Honestly, it makes a great fall dish and should have been included on here back then, but time has gotten away from me and I am very slow to post. However, as long as acorn squash, or any other winter squash is available in your market, then this recipe works.

There is a ton of give to this recipe. You can replace the sausage with any kind of meat you'd like. You can replace the stuffing with any flavor, or try rice. You can replace or eliminate the cheese. You can use any kind of squash. You can add anything to the "stuffing" that you might like. So many options.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Italian Sausage
Stove Top stuffing - pork flavored
Mozzarella cheese
1 Acorn squash, halved and seeds removed

Roast your squash. There are a few different methods out there for this. I place mine cut side down in a glass pan filled with about 1 inch of water. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until tender.

Remove the sausage from the casing and saute it with a bit of olive oil. Meanwhile, prepare the stuffing according to the package directions. (In the microwave is easiest) I ended up using about half the box in this dish.

Let your squash cool a bit then scoop out the middle meat. You want to leave about a half an inch of meat in there to serve as the 'bowl' which will be stuffed.

Add the cooked squash to your italian sausage and cook thoroughly. Add the cooked stuffing. Fill your squash bowls with the stuffing/squash/sausage mixture and top with grated mozzarella. (mine were heaping!)

Return the stuffed squashes to the oven and bake about 20 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.

I read about this dish on a Mommy Forum I frequent on babycenter.com. I can't believe I never thought about stuffing squash before or thought about using stuffing as stuffing for any vegetable. You don't have to add any other seasonings or bread crumbs and you get that perfect stuffing texture! It would be great in zucchini, butternut squash, pumpkins, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, the list is endless. It's a great way to feature vegetables without feeling like your meal is lacking carbs or protein. (which this one certainly is not). I'm going to serve stuffed vegetables a lot in this new year, both with meat as a main course and without as a side dish. The next combination will be brown rice, ham, cheddar and fresh herbs. Look for it!