Stuffed Acorn Squash

This recipe came from a Meatout Mondays email. (www.meatoutmondays.org) It was perfect timing because we just got 2 acorn squashes in our Bountiful Basket on Saturday morning! I'll leave the recipe as posted because I am going to use their nutritional information. The only change I really made is that their "medium acorn squash" must have been bigger than mine because we had a lot of leftover filling. (Not a bad thing!!) I also recommend saving the seeds to roast with a little olive oil and salt at 275 for 15 minutes! Yum!

Ingredients:

1 medium acorn squash
1 cup vegan chick'n broth or vegetable broth
½ cup uncooked quinoa
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
½ large bell pepper (preferably red), chopped
1 cup cooked garbanzo beans
1 cup fresh spinach
¼ cup raisins
2 ¼ teaspoons cumin
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegan butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Cut squash in half, remove pulp, place squash face down on a large baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes or until done. Squash should be tender all the way through.

3. In the meantime, in a medium saucepan, add the broth and quinoa, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer and cover. Continue cooking for about 15 minutes.

4. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil. Add garlic, onions, carrot and bell peppers. Sauté for about 5 minutes until the carrots are tender, stirring occasionally.

5. Add garbanzo beans, raisins, spinach, cumin and salt to the mix and continue cooking for a few minutes.

6. Add the quinoa to the skillet, stir well and remove from heat.

7. Once the squash is done cooking, remove from oven. Evenly spread the butter over the entire inner squash and sprinkle with the brown sugar. You can break the squash up a bit with a fork so that the butter and sugar are spread more evenly throughout.

8. Stuff each half of the squash with half of the quinoa stuffing mixture and serve.

Ratings:

Kristen: 4

    Dave: 4

Nutritional Information:

Serving = 1/4 squash stuffed. Makes 4 servings.
Amount Per Serving
Calories 367	From fat 102
	% Daily Value*
Total Fat 11.3g	17%
Saturated Fat 2.1g	10.5%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 590mg	24%
Total Carbohydrate 64g	21%
Dietary Fiber 7.7g	31%
Sugars 19.7g
Protein 8.1g
Vitamin A 98.7%	Vitamin C 68.8%
Calcium 9.2%	Iron 23.9%
* % Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Quinoa Chard Pilaf

Original recipe is here.

Here's how I made it:
Ingredients:
1/2 T EVOO
onion powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 c uncooked quinoa (Ancient Harvest Inca Red Organic Quinoa)
1/2 c lentils *see note
4 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
2 c vegetable broth
1 bunch swiss chard, stems removed, torn into pieces (Mine was a little over 100g after I tore it)

Directions:
Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and onion powder- saute until garlic is lightly browned. Mix in quinoa, lentils and mushrooms. Pour in the broth. Cover, and cook 20 minutes.
Remove the pot from heat. Gently mix chard into the pot. Cover and allow to sit 5 minutes or until chard is wilted.
Serves 4

Nutritional Information: 
Calories: 254
Fat: 5.7g
Saturated Fat: 0.3g
Carbs: 41.8g
Protein: 9.4g

Ratings:
Kristen: 3.5
Dave: 2

*Note: I found Tasty Bite Lentil Magic in my grocery store in the rice aisle. It's pre-cooked and pre-seasoned lentils in a vacuum packed bag. The original recipe calls for canned lentils, which I didn't find. Of course you could just cook your own lentils, but I did this once with less-than-favorable results and the premium on the price for this one is totally worth it to me!!