Stuffed Acorn Squash

I don’t write or develop recipes, but I am a good improviser when it comes to cooking. Joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group really makes you practice those skills, as well. Last night, I was working with acorn squash, bok choy, tomatoes, (all from the CSA) and ground beef. I made up this dish, but the acorn squash could easily be substituted with butternut squash or kabocha (pumpkin), and the bok choy could be substituted for any leafy, hearty green. You could also add in some of your own favorites–onion and carrots come to mind. It’s a very versatile and easy dinner.

Set your oven at 375. Prepare the squash by cutting them in half and scooping out the seeds. I put my four halves into a glass baking dish and drizzled them with olive oil. Salt and pepper them as much as you like (I like mine salty).

Put the squash in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes. This should give you enough time to chop up the vegetables that you are using into smallish pieces. After the timer goes off, set it for another 30 minutes, and start making the filling. Heat a larger skillet and leave it at medium while you brown the ground beef (about 1 lb.). After it is just browned, add the chopped vegetables and season them with salt, pepper, curry powder, and a touch a cinnamon. Once everything has cooked, about 5-10 minutes, add about a half cup of vegetable broth and simmer until the liquid is gone. **

Check to see if your squash is tender and if it is, take it out of the oven to spoon some of your ground beef filling into each one. There will probably be leftover filling. Put the squash back into the oven for 10-15 minutes until the filling gets a little crusty. Take out the squash and let it sit for a couple of minutes before you eat it.

**If you have kids who are picky eaters or can’t eat the stuffed squash in this format, you could scoop out the meat of the squash and serve it separately with the filling. It’s a little bit easier to eat that way.

Some visuals:

I am pretty excited to try this again and I’ll probably use kabocha next time, just because Matt and I like the flavor better. But overall, it was a tasty fall experiment. Please let me know if you try it any differently.

Pesto Passion

My passion for pesto has grown in the past few years.  This post will be updated whenever I discover a new recipe out there, usually developed by a frustrated CSA member who needs unique ways to use their produce before it goes bad!

A Bushel of What? Garlic scape pesto two ways

The Baltimore DIY Squad Sea of Greens

Greens Greens Everywhere

Detroit Restaurant Examiner Making Pesto

Anything Else is Just Basil Sauce Endless Simmer

Passing the Pesto Test? Endless Simmer

From Ketchup to Chutney Pesto, Two Ways

More to come!

Home grown, locally farmed, international meal

Sometimes I get more excited about food we grow and make at home than what we get in fancy restaurants. Last night my husband made dinner and it was quite the feast: an international meal with some home grown and locally farmed produce.

Appetizer: French radishes from our garden sprinkled in salt. Peppery, sweet, salty goodness.

Japanese dinner: gohan, niku jaga, miso soup, and beer.

Miso soup was made with CSA scallions, miso paste, daikon, and enoki mushrooms
Niku Jaga was made with CSA potatoes, pork, carrots, and konnyaku noodles

I love it when my husband makes dinner!