Acorn Squash Stuffed with Quinoa

With the return of fall weather recently, I've noticed that I'm craving less raw salads and more hearty meals. And the other night was no exception. As the seasons change, have you noticed a change in the foods your body craves?

Acorn Squash - those seeds are tasty too!

Because I've taken the October Unprocessed pledge, I took a look in my kitchen and tried to come up with something to make that would not require me to buy anything or go to a restaurant. I saw an Acorn Squash I bought recently, and decided to turn it into a complete meal. How to do that, you ask? Enter quinoa! I always have quinoa in my kitchen, in fact I have three kinds of it: white, red and black. Each ones tastes subtly different, so depending on what I'm making I'll choose a different type. To go with the squash, I decided to go with the blend, as it seems to go well with savory dishes.

To start, I roasted the squash in my oven. As that was baking, I cooked the quinoa in a pot on the stove. And miraculously, everything was done at about the same time!

A delicious meal! Yum!

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Quinoa (serves 2)
Ingredients:
- 1 Acorn Squash
- 1/2C Quinoa
- 1C Water
- 1/3C Minced Onion
- 1/8C Your choice: Raisins, Currants, Cherries, or Cranberries
- 1/8C Pecans
- 1T Olive Oil
- 1T Balsamic Vinegar
- Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Rinse and dry squash, then slice lengthwise down the middle.
- Remove and save the seeds for roasting.
- Put the squash face-down on a foil-lined baking pan. Bake about 30 minutes, or until soft.
- While squash is baking, prepare the quinoa.
- Rinse the quinoa to remove the natural saponins that give it a bitter taste. When water runs clear, put quinoa in a pot with water (ratio is same as for rice - 1:2).
- Bring water to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer quinoa until water has been absorbed, about 10-15 minutes. In the last few minutes, add the onion.
- When water is absorbed, remove quinoa from heat and add the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine, and let sit until the squash is done.
- Spoon the quinoa into the squash, and serve.