Roasted and stuffed acorn squash

IRL and in the blogosphere, autumn is my absolute favorite season.  Bloggers fill their pages with seasonally-inspired projects and dishes.  From pumpkin round-ups to easy decoration tutorials, the posts are festive, alluring, fun.  I read them with all of my senses, imagining the warmth of a vegan pumpkin spice latte or the deep chocolate scent of pumpkin swirl brownies in the oven.

During vegan month of food, I began following Julie at My Apologies for the Novel and since then, I've fallen for post after post that she shares.  This fall season is no different; Julie posted about everything from festive sweets to halloween decorations.  Her stuffed acorn squash looked delicious! And luckily, Julie suggested some recipe modifications in her post.  I used her suggestions and recipe to create a very similar dish!  I played with savory and sweet spices in this recipe, using both sage and cinnamon (you could venture into adding some maple syrup, if you want!).  I was worried about how the spices would play off one another, but I was surprised by the result.  Next time, I want to try for a creamy texture with the wild rice filling, maybe pureeing and using some of the roasted squash in the rice.  Over all, though, the squash was not only hearty and filling, it felt like autumn in my mouth. Exactly what I imagined when I read Julie's initial post, and exactly what I crave during the autumn months.

Roasted and stuffed acorn squash

Ingredients

2 acorn squash, cut in half, seeds removed

1 Tbsp. oil (I used coconut) or vegan margarine

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 c. wild rice, cooked

1 Tbsp. oil or vegan margarine

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/4 c. cremini mushrooms, diced

3/4 c. celery, diced

2 tsp. rubbed sage

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 c. walnuts, chopped

1/2 c. craisins


1.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  With your 1 Tbsp. of oil, lightly oil the exposed flesh of the acorn squash halves, dust with just a bit of brown sugar.  Once the oven is preheated, place the squash in the oven, cut-side up on a baking sheet.  Roast for 20 - 30 minutes.

2.  As the squash roasts, place a frying pan on your stove on medium heat.  Oil the bottom of the frying pan with 1 Tbsp of oil.  Add minced garlic.  Then add mushrooms and celery. Stir occasionally, add in the sage, cinnamon, and cloves.  Cook until all veggies are soft.

3.  In a large mixing bowl, combine your cup of cooked wild rice, your sautéed vegetables, chopped walnuts, and craisins.  Stir to combine.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

4.  Once you have removed your squash from the oven and you've combined all of the "stuffing" ingredients, simply pour your stuffing mixture into your halved squash, filling (or overfilling, as I did) the shallow holes.  Enjoy!