Smoked Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash

Smoked Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash

by Allison Donel
adapted from Taste of Home

Stuffed vegetables. They are a perfectly packaged all-in-one dish. You can use just about anything for the vessel - tomatoes, peppers, onions, cucumbers, zucchini, or squash. And you can use just about anything for the stuffing, like ground meat, tuna, other veggies, beans, bread crumbs, rice, or orzo. They can be sweet, savory, or spicy. They can be fresh and clean, or warm and comforting. So many options!!!

I love acorn squash. It’s inexpensive, easy to cook, and you can stuff it. What more could you ask for?

For the squash:

1 Acorn squash
salt, pepper
a few pinches of brown sugar
a drizzle of olive oil

For the stuffing:

a drizzle of olive oil
½ large onion, diced
1 clove of garlic
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped (or ½ cup frozen spinach, thawed and chopped)
1 egg
1 Tablespoon milk
4-6 ounces Teet’s Smoked Pure Pork Sausage, chopped
1 cup bread crumbs (cubes of bread, not the crumb type)
¼ cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Cut acorn squash in half, scrape out the seeds. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, brown sugar, and drizzle with olive oil.

3. Place the squash on a baking sheet cut side up and bake for 45 min or until the squash is tender when poked with a fork. If the squash will not sit squarely, slice off a tiny piece on the bottom side to make it flat.

4. While the squash is baking, heat olive oil in a sauté pan. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper, and cook over medium heat for a few minutes, until tender. Add the garlic and spinach. Cook for a few minutes more until the spinach is wilted. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

5. In a medium sized bowl beat the egg with the milk. Add the breadcrumbs, cranberries, sausage, and the spinach mixture.

6. Spoon the mixture into the squash cavities, and bake for another 20 minutes or until the mixture is hot.