Acorn Squash . . . DELICIOUS!

Last night our neighbors had us over for dinner.  They got their first Bountiful Basket a couple of weeks ago.  For dinner last night, they cooked up their acorn squash.  And oh my, was it delicious!  I scarfed my 1/4 of the squash right up.  I am excited we have three hanging out on our counter, waiting to be cooked up and eaten.    She just baked hers in the oven, and added a little sweet goodness to it.  Here is her recipe . . .

Baked Acorn Squash

Ingredients:

4 Medium Acorn Squash

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 

1/4 cup real maple syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cut the acorn squash in half and clean out the seeds and guts of the squash.  In a medium sized bowl mix honey, melted butter, salt, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and maple syrup.  Put acorn squash on a baking sheet, insides up.  Poor equal parts of the mix into the cavities of each squash.  Bake for one hour covered with foil.  Uncover and bake for another 20 minutes or so until soft.  Serve and ENJOY!!!

Also, one of our readers, Jenny A., sent us another great idea for using up all that acorn squash.  She also used up some her mushrooms, onion, celery, and pears from the past couple of baskets.  Way to be so resourceful, Jenny!!!

She said she used these two recipes for her inspiration:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Wild-Rice-Stuffed-Squash/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Wild-Rice-Stuffed-Acorn-Squash/Detail.aspx

And here is how she pulled it all together . . .

Stuffed Acorn Squash 

Ingredients:

1-2 whole Acorn Squash

1 box of wild rice

chicken broth

1 teaspoon sage

1 teaspoon thyme

1 box of frozen breakfast sausage

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 tablespoons butter

1 chopped Asian Pear or Apple of your choice

1/4 cup chopped mushrooms

2 tablespoons fresh parsley

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 F.
Prepare a box of wild rice according to the package, except use chicken broth instead of water (sub vegetable broth to make it vegetarian), and add 1 tsp sage and 1 tsp thyme. Simmer for 20-25 minutes or until fully cooked. 

Meanwhile, cut the acorn squash in half and scoop out seeds. Also, cut a small part off the outside so squash will sit flat. Spray a baking sheet and place squash so the cut insides face down and bake for 30 minutes.

Prepare a box of frozen breakfast sausage according to package directions. After heated through, chop up and set aside (this can be omitted if making vegetarian)

Saute 1/2 cup onion and 1/2 cup celery in 2 tbsp butter until translucent. Add in 1 chopped Asian pear (or apple of your choice) and add in, cooking until tender. Add in 1/4 cup chopped mushrooms and 2 tbsp fresh parsley, cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix in sausage (if using) and rice.

Flip the acorn squash over and fill with the wild rice mixture. Place back in oven and cook for 20 minutes or until squash is tender.

This sounds delicious, Jenny!  I think I will be trying this one this week.  It sounds like a meal my husband would love! 

Jenny also sent us some great ideas to use up all that ocra.  Stay tuned, as that one is coming up!  Thanks so much for writing in, Jenny!  We love hearing from all of our new readers!