Curry Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

One thing I do enjoy about the winter months is the wide variety of winter squash. It’s fairly economical, easy to cook, nutritious and loaded with fiber. Yet the best thing is that it tastes good, is low in calories and quite filling! Oven roasted squash is easy, simple and doesn’t need much adornment to enjoy as a side dish. Stuff it with quinoa, garbanzo beans, dried cranberries and spinach and it takes center stage as an entree.

Lovely, simply lovely.

I was inspired by a stuffed acorn squash recipe in the Happy Herbivore Abroad cookbook. I doubled the spices, added garbanzo beans, onions and dried cranberries. These changes gave it a protein and fiber boost and took it from a simple side dish to a delightful entree. We like it so much that I’ve made it twice and I have even doubled the recipe. The leftovers heated up well and make for a quick heat and eat meal a day or two later. You know how I love leftovers!

Curry Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash

• 1 acorn squash, cut in half, seeds removed*
• 1/2 cup tri colored quinoa or whatever color you have
• 1 1/4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon curry powder or to taste**
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup cooked low sodium garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup fresh spinach, finely chopped
• salt -optional -to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

*To make it easier to cut the squash in half, pierce it a few times with a sharp knife and place it in the microwave, heating on high for 3-4 minutes. It will soften the skin just enough to cut easily.

**Curry powder varies greatly in the amount of heat it has so use as much or as little as appeals to your taste buds.

Place prepared squash upside down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 30-35 minutes or until fork tender. The size of the squash will determine how long it needs to bake. I had one large acorn squash that took 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine quinoa, onion,vegetable broth, curry powder and dried cranberries in a medium size pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low cooking for 15 – 20 minutes or until all liquid evaporates.

When quinoa is cooked, add spinach and garbanzo beans, stir to combine, season with salt if desired,put lid on pot and set aside until squash is ready.

When the acorn squash is fork tender, remove it from the oven, turn over and evenly divide stuffing mix in the cavity of each half. It will be really full! Serve hot.

Notes: Skip the cranberries and vary the type of beans and spices used – for instance black beans and cumin or white beans with Italian seasonings. Use double the spinach to bulk it up and fill 4 squash halves to cut down on the calories.

Yield: 2 servings

Nutritional Information

Per Serving; 465 Calories, 7 g Fat, 292mg Sodium, 98.6 Carbohydrates,  14.5 g Fiber, 16.4 g Protein

This recipe was inspired by the Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe from Happy Herbivore Abroad cookbook.

Nutmeg Notes

Happy Monday! Do you have to today off? Yeah to everyone who does! If you did have to drive to work today hopefully there was less traffic on the road and it helped you have an easy start to your day.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote on what blog post topics you are most interested in reading about. I want to share with you what topics were honored with the most votes. The rest of the topics only had 1-3 votes but that doesn’t mean I won’t blog about them. Of course I knew that food finds and favorite things would be at the top – I also love to know what other people are buying and using in their kitchen.

The top five:

1. Food finds and favorite things
2. My favorite healthy/plant based recipes or meals that we repeat again and again
3. Budget friendly ideas/meal plans and strategies
4. My favorite cookbooks and resources for a plant based diet
5. Traveling and eating  healthy /plant based food away from home

Stay tuned for posts on your favorite topics!

These feathered friends have been greeting me on the natural trail every morning. I have also been seeing pheasants but they are too far off the path to get a good photo. It’s only been in the mid 30’s when I walk but by afternoon it’s in the high 60’s! Woo-hoo I am loving these warm days in January. The sad part is we are having a terrible drought and need rain! Everything here in Northern CA should be green right now but instead everything is brown. There are water use restrictions in place in certain counties.

A few days after Christmas my clothes washer decided to die – a load of towels got locked in the front load washer after the control panel went bonkers! I did eventually get it to turn on long enough to unlock the door and remove the towels. Although hubby Tom had assured me he could take the door off and get my towels out if push came to shove! On New Years Eve I got a new Maytag front load washer and matching dryer. This new front load washer uses even less water than my old one. Both appliances are super efficient and I couldn’t be happier with them. With this drought and water shortage happening I’m glad to have a washer that uses very little water. Consumer Reports rated the Maytag Maxima as a top pick. I highly recommend it! Front loaders are so gentle on your clothes – they come out almost wrinkle free. Love that!

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I don’t know about you but I do laundry almost daily even though there are only two of us! With work out clothes, regular clothes and towels it seems like there is always a load to be washed. We have it a lot easier than our Grandmothers did. Does anyone remember their Grandma using the old wringer washer? I do. She had it set up in a room at the back of the house that was like an enclosed porch and it was quite the ordeal to do laundry. Of course she hung the laundry out on the line to dry too. Laundry took hours to complete and then since it hung on the line to dry everything was a mass of wrinkles. Grandma had a coke bottle filled with water and it had a topper on it that the water sprinkled out of. She used that to sprinkle the clothes before ironing them. The ironing board would be set up in the kitchen and she would iron away. We’ve come a long way since those days. Thank goodness for that!

Make it a great day!

Tami

Hey friends I love reading your comments!

Do you remember your Grandma or mom doing laundry in the old ringer washers?