That’s a Good Gourd

Mmmmm….tonight’s dinner was GOOD!

I’ve been seeing stuffed squash here and there on different sites/magazines lately, so I knew that I wanted to try my hand at it at home.  I picked up a few essentials at the store today, and just kind of winged it with my own recipe.  I’m a big fan of the combination of salty and sweet, so I knew that I wanted to incorporate both of those flavors somehow. 

Here’s what the recipe ended up as:

Date and Mushroom Pilaf Stuffed Acorn Squash

1 acorn squash, stem removed, split in half and rubbed with olive oil
1 box wild rice pilaf (I used Near East brand)
1/2 cup white mushrooms, diced
4-5 dates, chopped
1 tbsp. hazelnuts, chopped
1/2 tsp. butter
1/4 tsp. herbes de provence
2 tbsp. sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Place acorn squash, squash side up, into a baking dish. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the squash can be easily pierced with a fork.

Cook rice pilaf according to directions on box.

Melt butter in skillet. Add mushrooms, dates, hazelnuts, and herbes de provence and cook for about 10 minutes, until mushrooms are soft and mixture has combined.

Once pilaf is cooked, combine the mushroom mixture with the pilaf.

Once acorn squash is fully cooked, remove from the oven and stuff cavity with the pilaf mixture (filling to the brink!). Top with shredded cheese and place back into oven until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

Here are some pics of the process:

Squash coming out of the oven:

Squash being stuffed:

And the final product, with some sauteed spinach:

This meal was SO good…it was pure comfort food, and looked pretty impressive but wasn’t hard to make at all. Two thumbs up!

Hope you had a good night as well…I’m off to watch some Oprah from my DVR

Night!