Fall is here {or at least on its way} and I am loving the cooler temperatures. Fall is definitely my favorite season and I like to enjoy everything it has to offer from gorgeous weather to delicious comfort food. Once fall hits, I turn from zucchini and spaghetti squash and focus more on butternut squash and sweet potatoes. Fall and winter squash are so easy to find at just about any grocery store so it is so easy to use them in recipes. I was trying to decide what to make for dinner one night and decided to make stuffed acorn squash instead of pulling out my typical butternut squash.
This squash is stuffed with delicious sausage mixed with spelt to add some heartiness to the dish. Spinach and Swiss cheese complete the complex flavors that you will want over and over again. You can easily make the stuffing ahead of time and just keep it for when you want to serve the squash. I usually cook the stuffing on Sundays when I prepping stuff for my weekly meals and then just finish the dish on whatever night we are having it for dinner.
- 2 Acorn Squash, halved with seeds removed
- 1 lb ground Italian sausage {we use the hot but mild if totally fine}
- 3 cups baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 tsp grapeseed oil
- 1 cup spelt
- 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- Place spelt in a large bowl and cover with water. Let soak overnight. Bring 3 cups of water to boil over medium heat. Drain the spelt and add to the pot. Simmer the spelt for 30 minutes. Drain any remaining water from the pan. Set cooked spelt aside.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush the cut side of the acorn squash with 2 tsp of grape seed oil. Season with ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp of black pepper. Bake in oven, cut side down for 30-35 minutes or until squash is still a little firm but can be pierced with a fork.
- Heat a medium sized pan over medium heat. Add sausage and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring to crumble. Remove from pan. Add remaining 1 tsp of oil to the pan and saute the onion and baby spinach for 4-5 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine spelt, Italian sausage, onion mixture, ½ cup cheese, ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp ground black pepper. Stir well to combine.
- Flip acorn squash over and fill the cavity with sausage mixture. Divide the remaining 1/2 cup cheese over to the top of the squash. Bake in oven for 15 minutes.
I took one of these to work the day after I made them and they were still so good. I am looking forward to cooking with squash a lot more now that fall is here. Do you have a favorite fall food?
While you are gearing up for yummy fall foods, be sure to check out these recipes
These look AMAZING! I can’t wait to try them. Pinned