Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash

I found this recipe on Pinterest. Sausage and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash. The recipe was on the Evertything Mommyhood site written by a guest blogger, Reesa from MommyLew.

I had extra Farro from the Stuffed Peppers so I used that in place of the rice. These were very good.

Prepare the Squash:
Slice the Acorn Squash in half. Scoop out the center, removing the seeds.
Pour about 2 tbsp of olive oil on a cookie sheet.
Season your squash with salt and pepper and lay cut side down on the cookie sheet.
Cook approximately 30 minutes, until the squash is tender and soft.

Stuffing Recipe:
Dice half of a large onion & 1 stalk of celery. Cook until soft and translucent in 1 tbsp of olive oil.
Remove from the pan to keep from burning.
Add about 1lb of ground sausage and brown.
Dice 1 large apple and add to the pan. Add the onion and celery back into the pan.
Cook 1 cup of white rice (I used the extra cooked farro).
Season with 1/2 tbsp of pumpkin spice and salt & pepper to taste.
   
After your squash is finished roasting, it is time to stuff it! Fill the centers with your stuffing mix. Place back into your oven and roast for an additional 10-15 minutes so that the flavors meld together.

Please remember to thank a Veteran today.

Acorn Squash Soup with Kale

Do you may remember last week when I purchased a lot of acorn squash. Tonight I  used one of the bags of puree to make this soup. Easy to prepare, having the puree already made, and perfect for a chilly December night.

Acorn Squash Soup with Kale, from Martha Stewart

Ingredients -
4 strips bacon, 4 ounces, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 pound kale, thick stems removed, leaves finely chopped (about 8 cups)
4 cups Acorn Squash Puree, or 2 packages (12 ounces each) frozen winter squash puree, thawed
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Method -
Cook bacon in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 4 to 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate; set aside.

Add onion to fat in pan, and cook until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add kale; cook until soft, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add squash puree and 3 cups water (or more if necessary to achieve desired consistency); bring just to a boil. Season generously with salt and pepper. Serve, garnished with reserved bacon.

Osso Bucco and the Day of the Acorn Squash

It was so darn cold out today. And the winds made it a perfect day for a braised beef dish for dinner.
The recipe for Osso Bucco is from Twice Baked Twins. It was so delicious I ate my whole piece including the marrow.

Osso Bucco, from Twice Baked Twins 

Ingredients -

1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 dry bay leaf
2 whole cloves
3 shanks , veal or beef
sea salt & pepper
all purpose flour, for dredging
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, diced
1 small carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup dry white wine
3 cups chicken stock

Method -
Tie together the rosemary, thyme & bay leaf with twine, set aside. This will be the herb bouquet. For the shanks, pat dry with paper towels, they will brown better if they are dry. Season each piece with salt & pepper and dredge into the flour and shake off the excess. In a large pot, heat the oil and butter until very hot and brown the shanks on each side, about 3 minutes per side. Remove shanks & set aside. In this same pot, add the onion, carrot and celery. Season with salt. Saute until soft, about 8 minutes. Add tomato paste and mix well. Return the shanks to the pot and add the wine and reduce the liquid by about half, about 5 minutes. add the bouquet and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover pan. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until meat falls off the bone. Keep checking and turning shanks every 15 minutes or so. You can add a little more stock if needed. The cooking liquid should always be 3/4 of the way on the shank. When done remove the bouquet and remove shanks. At this point you can blend the sauce and vegetable with a hand blender. Taste and re-season.

Now about that Acorn Squash. I stopped at Whole Foods the other night to pick up some things and to get the Acorn Squash for the dish I am bringing to my sister's house on Thanksgiving. The squash were a little larger than I was looking for but I picked 8 of them anyway. On the way home the same night I stopped at Bishop's Orchard for some escarole, the escarole at Whole Foods was just awful, and of course they had the size Acorn Squash that I was looking for. Now I have a few too many squash.

I roasted the ones I was not going to bring to my sister's house and ended up with four 2 cup bags of puree, 2 halves of a squash filled with Pearl Barley, Dried Cherries and Pecans, and a small dish of Acorn Squash Lasagna.

 

All of these went in the freezer.

And being a Sunday some of us took a cat nap...

Panko-Coated Chicken Schnitzel & Acorn Squash Farro Risotto

I have been wanting to make the Acorn Squash Farro Risotto for some time now.
Today I happened to have all the ingredients in the house. Of course I thought that it would not be enough to have just that for dinner. So I also made the Chicken Schnitzel.
The Acorn Squash Farro Risotto was more time intensive, about and hour, so the Chicken Schnitzel was a perfect recipe. It took only 15 minutes. And I used one half of a chicken breast so the amount was just enough.
Now back to the Acorn Squash Farro Risotto. I cut the recipe in half... except for the farro. Making only one squash, the recipe calls for two, I should have used half the amount of farro. We ended up sharing one of the acorn squash halves, they are very filling.  We loved the nutty flavor of the farro. And I have enough for a couple of lunches... unless we have it tomorrow night!

And it snowed today! First snow storm since October. When it snows I have to bake bread. I do not know why but I just do. I tried a new recipe today. English Muffin Toasting Bread. I found this on the King Arthur Flour site. Mine did not rise as much as the bread in the photo on the King Arthur site but I loved the taste. It tastes like an English Muffin!

On a different note... Are there any knitters or crocheters out there. Well I found this very cool site. Biscuits and Jam. There is a Stripe Generator! You pick out your colors and the number of rows you want and it shows you what your striped pattern will look like. Very cool.