Stuffed Acorn Squash + Wild Rice Medley

If you've never had a stuffed acorn squash, you really should give it a try. They are just so good and surprisingly filling. I love them unstuffed too with simple seasonings, but this is a tasty and satisfying meal with a good nutritional profile. I'm a big eater and one of these filled me up. Not too hard to put together either. It does take three separate cooking sections but it comes together pretty smoothly, unless your like me...the burner on the rice went out without me knowing so I had to add an additional 45 min onto my cooking time. But no harm done...there were dishes to do and cleaning around the house to keep my mind busy and off the mishap. All in all it's fairly easy, the rice and squash cook themselves, so the vegetables are the only real work which isn't much. This is also one of those recipes that can be tailored to your preference of veggies or beans. To top it all off, you just gotta love eating out of an acorn squash...it's pretty fun!

Start by slicing your acorn squash and scraping out the seeds. The seeds scrape out very easily with a sharper edged spoon. Here you can either brush your acorn squash with a little olive oil or leave it out. I go either way as I don't find it makes too much of a difference, so it just depends on how I'm feeling if I want to add extra oil to the meal. Sprinkle with fresh or dried thyme leaves and mineral salt. You can even add a few fresh thyme sprigs inside each squash, just remove before eating. Cook until fork tender.

Cook your rice and set aside. Prepare your vegetables and add in the rice once done. 

Fill your acorn squashes and serve! 

Stuffed Acorn Squash + Wild Rice Medley

Ingredients

Acorn Squash

• 3 acorn squashes, cut in half lengthwise and seeded
• 1 1/2 teaspoons thyme, divided
• sea salt

Wild Rice Medley

• 1 cup rice, dry (I used half black wild rice and half long grain brown rice)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small red bell pepper, diced
• 1 large shallot or small onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups mushrooms, sliced
• 2 large handfuls greens (I used a 5 oz. combo package of baby kale, baby chard and baby spinach)
• 1 can cannellini beans (15 oz), drained and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
• sea salt and cracked pepper to taste

sriracha or hot sauce, to taste as garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In an oven proof sauce pan, fill half way with water and place on the bottom rack (this will give a little steam to your squash). Cut and seed your squash, place on baking sheet with cut side up. Season each squash with about 1/4 teaspoon thyme along with a few twists of the mineral salt grinder. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until tender...knife should easily pierce the flesh.

Cook your rice according to package. Wild rice will take about the same time as the squash to cook, about 40-45 min. (Quinoa or quinoa/rice combo would be great too and add even more protein per serving.)

Once the squash and rice are cooked, set aside to cool and begin with the vegetables.

In large wok or saute pan, heat oil on medium heat. Add shallots, garlic and bell peppers, saute for about three minutes. Add mushrooms, beans, one tablespoon thyme, red pepper flakes, a few twists of salt and pepper, cook for another three minutes. Add leafy greens, stir frequently until they are wilted (you may also want to use a cover in between stirring to help soften the greens). Combine rice and sauteed vegetables in the larger of the two pots. Taste for seasoning adding additional salt and pepper as needed.

Scoop mixture into each acorn squash half and serve with any additional seasonings. I like to top mine with some sriracha for that extra heat and flavor I love so much. So very good with this meal. Serves six, or three for the hearty eaters.

Store leftovers in an air tight container in fridge for up to a week.

Enjoy!