Ever have bits of leftovers from your week and don’t know what to do with them except try and make a salad or throw them away? Well, let’s make a full meal out of them that you will actually crave instead.
Every Sunday I spend some time batch cooking quinoa, lentils, and a medley of roasted vegetables for Kevin and me to build our Buddha bowls for lunches throughout the week.
But no matter how precisely I try to measure for what I think we need, there are always leftovers. By the end of the week, we don’t want to eat another salad, so when Acorn Squash came back in the season it finally clicked.
Basically, we build a quinoa bowl with all the leftover roasted vegetables, grains, lentils, and proteins from our week. Proportions differ every time, but by mixing them together it is always delicious.
The recipe measurements below are written if you wanted to create the full meal from scratch, but I recommend these as a vehicle to use up foods you already have in your fridge and enjoy a nutritious, delicious meal! Make it creative, I’m pretty sure there are no bad ingredients to add to these. My sister even made it and added her chopped-up apples…brilliant!
Each person can be served half a stuffed acorn squash, so 1 full squash should be purchased per 2 people.
Enjoy!
Stuff Acorn Squash
Ingredients
- 2 whole Acorn Squash
- 1 cup cooked grain (rice, quinoa or couscous)
- 1 cup cooked vegetables (mushrooms, onions, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans)
- 1 cup cooked lentils
- 1 cup protein (tofu, beans, chickpeas, tempeh or animal protein if desired)
Optional Toppings
- sunflower seeds
- feta or parmesan cheese
- chopped artichoke hearts
- balsamic glaze
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Slice both acorn squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Arrange the squash on a large baking sheet cut-side-up, and drizzle with avocado or olive oil. Generously sprinkle squash with your favorite spices: I keep it simple with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika.
- Bake squash for 45 minutes.
- While the squash is baking, mix together your grains, lentils, vegetables and protein then heat in a skillet on medium heat until warmed through.
- When acorn squash is fully cooked, divide the filling evenly and spoon the filling into the center of each acorn squash half. Top with any desired toppings, I typically choose sunflower seeds and feta cheese.