Stuffed Acorn Squash

I liked stuffed peppers. Kyle does not. So I came up with the idea of a stuffed squash in hopes that he would like them better than the peppers. He did and I actually liked them better too. After eating these I don’t know if I will ever go back to stuffing peppers. The combination of the slightly sweet acorn squash and the savory sausage stuffing was so good. And these are super easy to make!

You will need:

2 acorn squash

2 chorizo sausages (read your ingredients. we buy ours from the fresh meat case at whole foods).

1 bell pepper (whatever color you like), diced

4 oz mushrooms, diced

1 medium onion, diced

Cut your acorn squash in half (length-wise) and scoop out the seeds. Place them cut side down in a 9×13 baking dish and fill the dish with water (water should cover the bottom half of squash).

Bake squash at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes. (Check them at 30 min. Cook them until still firm, but fork tender. Don’t overcook or they will fall apart).

While the squash is baking, make the stuffing. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion, pepper and mushrooms. Cook until soft and onion is translucent. Add chorizo. {note: chorizo usually come in a sausage casing. I like to slice the casing open and just cook the ground meat. If you prefer you can leave it in the casing and just chop into small pieces.} Saute until sausage is cooked through. Set aside until squash are finished baking.

Remove your squash from the oven and dump the water out of the pan. Flip the squash over and fill them with the sausage mixture. Return pan to the oven for 5 or 10 minutes just to heat though and meld the flavors.

*adding salt & pepper is unnecessary because the chorizo has a great flavor on its own and the flavor carries over to all the veggies. If you sub the chorizo with a more mild sausage you may want to season to taste*