Stuffed Acorn Squash

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Chicken, Mushrooms, Goat Cheese

Made a new way!!

Another great way to make stuffed acorn squash with yummy flavors.  I can’t believe how much we love squash and how much fun it is to make – OH and to eat!  We decided to use spinach and mushroom with feta cheese. Making this with goat cheese makes it so creamy giving the stuffed Acorn squash so many wonderful flavors.

So, we tried something new (new for us!) for cutting the squash.  We cut the top off the acorn squash.  Cutting off the tops this way ensures everyone gets their own squash.   It was a big meal and we could hardly eat the entire thing, but being troopers, we both pushed through and finished them.  OMG, this is really a great recipe even if I do say so myself!!!

Acorn Squash – Good for the diet

We love to come up with new ways to make squash that are diet-friendly and you guessed it full of flavor!!   This recipe will really make you THINK you’re cheating on your diet.  One of our tips for saving calories is to use Cream Cheese to stretch the cheese, enhance the flavor and make the dish really creamy! 

Goat Cheese

We love goat cheese!  So, anytime we get an opportunity to experiment with goat cheese we get excited.  Yeah I know we’re strange!  I mean I love to put goat cheese on spinach salad and, when it gets a little warmer out, we’ll share our grilled asparagus with goat cheese recipe.  It’s so yummy and goes great with steak!   Or my favorite grilled shrimp, asparagus, and goat cheese. Can’t wait for Spring!!!. . .only a few more weeks!!!!

Enhancing my cutting skills

I know I need to work on my cutting skills (I’m not trying out for Top Chef), but I really need to get a sharper bigger knife to cut the Acorn Squash (that’s also a hint to Amy for my birthday!!!).

I did find cutting it in half was actually easier than just cutting the top off of the squash, but it is fun to make individual squash servings, and cutting the top off gives everyone their own fun squash “bowl”. . . .  And the tops are really cool looking.

After the top is cut off, scoop out the seeds.  So, If you like squash seeds you can rinse them off and bake them.

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
2. Rinse the squash seeds with water, to remove any bits of squash. Place them on a paper towel and pat dry.
3. Place the seeds on a baking sheet (cover with parchment paper).  And bake the seeds for  15 minutes, or until seeds start to pop.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

I’m not a big lover of squash seeds but I’m sure if you sprinkle some cayenne pepper and a little salt on top they will be delicious. AND Spicy!    So as soon as you remove the seeds from the oven sprinkle your favorite spice on top.  Please let us know if you try making the squash seeds and if you liked them.

For the squash, Make sure to season the inside and place the squash  face down in a baking dish.  Add about 1/4 cup of water.  Bake for one hour on 375 degrees.  Start checking the squash after about 45 minutes.  When the squash is soft and easy to push with a fork – it’s done.

Stuffing

While the squash is cooking make the stuffing.

 Sauté Mushrooms in 1 teaspoon olive oil and a little black pepper.  When the mushrooms are reduced, add sherry and cook until the sherry has thickened.  Add salt to taste.  Set the mushrooms aside

Brown the Ground Chicken with the spices

Add the Chard and mushrooms to the chicken

Let cool

While the chicken mixture is cooling.   Mix together the cheese – 4 oz cheddar, 4 oz Goat cheese, and 3 Tablespoons Cream cheese.  Then add the cheese mixture to the chicken.  if you are really brave and want to make this dish spicy – chop up a Habanero and mix it in.  The flavor will be amazing! (AND SPICY)

When the acorn squash is finished cooking and has cooled some.  Start to stuff the squash with the chicken, mushroom chard mixture.    Lightly pack the stuffing in the squash.

Put the squash back in the oven for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!!!!!

Spice or Not Too Spice!

If you want to add some yummy spice to this stuffed acorn squash.  After it is cooked sprinkle the top with fresh chopped Serrano peppers.   NOTE: Don’t add the Serrano peppers if you also mixed in the Habanero earlier.  This would make it too hot for even the “craziest spicy pepper junky”.

Other Squash

Making stuffed acorn squash is a lot of fun to make, serve and eat.  If you like this recipe check out our butternut squash and acorn squash with ground turkey recipes.  We are going to play with some other squash recipes soon.  It’s just that we love the stuffed acorn squash so much!

Please let us know if you have tried these and what you thought or if you have some really cool squash recipes too.  Especially if you have a recipe you would like us to play with to cut the calories.