Vegan Stuffed Acorn Squash

It's well into Autumn here, I've been eating primarily vegan lately, we've had this squash lying around for a bit, and it's getting to be dinnertime -- so here's what I put together using only ingredients that I already had on hand (I didn't buy anything in anticipation of it nor specifically plan for this meal):

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 acorn squash
• 1/2 cup of dry quinoa (I only happened to have tri-color on hand, so that's what I used)
• 1 cup of water
• 1-2 Tablespoons of lemon juice
• 2-3 teaspoons of vegetable oil
• 1/4 of an onion, chopped
• 1 heaping teaspoon (not the actual measurement, but the regular spoon kind) of minced garlic
• 1/2 of a Gala apple (skin on), chopped
• a handful of fresh, raw cranberries (chopped)
• Vegetable stock
• whole nutmeg
• ground cinnamon
• a handful of pistachios, chopped
• a handful of raw sunflower seeds
• a handful of roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• 1/2 teaspoon of fresh thyme
• 1 loose 1/4 cup of fresh parsley, chopped
• 1-2 Tablespoons of maple syrup

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cut the squash in half (top to bottom) and roast it (cut-side-down) on an oiled baking sheet for 30 minutes at 400° F.
2. Cook the quinoa in the water (just boil on a low heat, stirring occasionally, until all the water is absorbed).
3. While the squash is baking and the quinoa is cooking -- put the oil, onion, and some salt and pepper into a saute pan and cook over medium-high heat until it starts to become translucent.  Throw in the garlic, the apple, and the chopped cranberries, and cook for another minute or two.  Finally, add just enough vegetable stock to cover the bottom of the pan, some freshly grated nutmeg (I probably used about a fifth of one seed), and about a half teaspoon (again, not the actual measurement, but the regular spoon kind) of ground cinnamon.  Stir it all together and let it boil down until all the liquid is gone.  This should take maybe 5 minutes.
4. Check your quinoa -- it's probably done by now.  Whenever it is done, stir the lemon juice into it.
5. When the squash is cooked (i.e. able to be easily pierced through the skin with a fork or knife), take it out of the oven and flip the halves over so the cut/stuff-able side is now up.  Sprinkle the flesh with a little salt and pepper.
6. Combine your cooked quinoa, the onion/apple/cranberry mixture, the pistachios, the sunflower seeds, the pepitas, and everything else (the fresh herbs and maple syrup).  Stir it all together and give it a taste to see if you want to adjust any of the spices.
7. Finally, stuff as much of the stuffing as you can into each half of the squash (I should mention that this made way more stuffing that I needed -- but that's okay, just eat the extra for breakfast or something 😀) and then throw a little more loose on top for good measure.  Bake them for 10 more minutes so that you get a little crunchiness on top.
8. Enjoy!  (I recommend eating with a spoon to more easily scrape all the way to the skin of the squash.)

This post is an original recipe that I created from scratch.

My goal is to share my love of food simply -- without all the fluff (unless it's Marshmallow Fluff!), long winded stories, excessive and repetitive photos, or incessant rambling that I see on other blogs.  I personally tend to skip over all that, just scrolling straight to the bottom in hopes of finding the recipe right away.  Therefore, I hope you appreciate the brevity above.

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