I was asked to bring orange food to my brother’s Thanksgiving Day table. I love orange veggies, so this was an easy task. I thought stuffed acorn squash would look great on the table (very festive) and be quite tasty. This was ridiculously easy. Thanks to Julieanna Hever, the plant-based dietitian, she did a live stream demo of cooking a vegan Thanksgiving day feast. This is not her recipe, but I did learn how to prepare my squash from her video. Also, I used acorn squash for the holiday because of how they looked, but you can use any small winter squash. I plan on using the sweet dumpling squash next time. They are a bit smaller, so I’ll probably need more of them, but they are quite delicious.
- 3-4 small winter squash
- 1 package of Trader Joe’s multigrain pilaf
- optional 3/4 Cup chopped walnuts
Cut the squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and place in a pan face down. Add some water to the pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes till the squash are soft. When they are cool enough to touch, drain the remaining water from the pan and shake any excess off the squash.
Mix the pilaf with the chopped nuts, if you are using nuts (I did for the holiday, but won’t use them for everyday meals) and spoon into the squash cavities. Return to the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.
You can even prepare this ahead of time. I had lots to go into the oven on Thanksgiving morning, so I did the first baking the night before, and put the squash in the fridge. If you do this, either give them time out of the fridge to get to room temperature or add a few minutes to the baking time. Our finished squash then went for a long car ride (lots of traffic) and were reheated for the meal.