...A Scrumptious Dinner For All...
Last night I happened upon a totally DELICIOUS and unplanned dinner, prepared by moi. Without further adieu, I’d like to present my scrumptious Stuffed Acorn Squash.
What you need:
- 1/2 lb chicken sausage de-cased (italian flavored)
-1 portabella mushroom
- 1/2 of a onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- a handful (literally) of baby spinach
- 2 large or 3 small acorn squash tops cut off and insides scraped out
- 1/2 box of couscous, I used this brand
- parmesan cheese
-butter/olive oil
- oregano
- salt and pepper
What you do:
1) Preheat oven to 450F
2) Heat up sautee pan on low—add 1TB butter and 1TB olive oil
3) Dice up onion, garlic and portabello mushroom
4) Add onion and garlic to heated pan and season with salt, pepper and oregano. Allow to cook for 3 minutes
5) Add dice mushroom, season as needed. Allow to cook for 2-3 minutes
6) Add de-cased chicken sausage. Allow to cook until chicken is cooked through (AKA no pink in the center).
7) While chicken is cooking, make couscous according to package instructions. If using plain couscous, add rosemary or garlic powder for extra flavor.
8) Cut and scrap out acorn squash. It’s always helpful to create a “kick stand” by cutting off part of the bottom so that the squash can “stand upright”. Also, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use a proper knife and also, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don’t cut yourself. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I knew someone cut them self recreating my recipe. Aiight?
9) Turn off cooked chicken/mushroom mixture and fold in spinach (don’t worry, it will wilt on its own!)
10) Mix couscous and chicken mixtures. Add 3TB grated parmesan. BE SURE TO TASTE IT! ALL UNDER SEASONED FOOD IS A RESULT OF NOT TASTING AS YOU COOK!
11) Stuff squash with delicious couscous/chicken sausage mixture!
12) Put squash on a cookie sheet, cover top with tinfoil and put into your steamy oven. Cook until squash is tender (about an hour)!
Viola! Dinner time!
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Also, easy ways to make this dish for people with stricter diets.
Make it Vegan/Vegetarian by: swapping regular butter for Earth Balance, omitting the sausage and adding more mushroom AND by swapping the parmesan with nutritional yeast.
Make it Gluten Free by: swapping couscous for quinoa.
Make it Gluten Free Vegan by: Doing everything listed above, duh!
I have a feeling this is going to be my go-to winter dish!
Yum.
XO.
