baked butternut squash stuffed with cheese and wild rice

well, i’ve never made stuffed squash before, but i really didn’t think it could be very hard.  that’s my story and i’m sticking to it :)

i admit, i don’t really know how long squash takes to bake in the oven.  i figured too long would be better than not long enough so i gave it around two hours.  butternuts can be tricky to cut because they are so solid, so just be careful!  i cut it in half once lengthwise, so as to have two nice big circles to fill.  i rubbed the fleshy sides with olive oil and put them facedown on a baking pan.  (i used an aluminum one, though i’m sure glass or otherwise would be fine too.)

we had some leftover broth from will’s mom’s delicious bacon collard greens, which we used to supplement cooking water for wild rice (1:2 rice/water ratio).  

i sauteed up a medium yellow onion with a little butter, and when the rice was tender i added in the onion, along with a few cloves of minced garlic, another couple tablespoons of butter* and a sprinkling of cracked salt.

for the sake of having some veggies, i boiled some baby carrots for about 10 minutes (depends on how soft you want them).  after draining them i added enough olive oil to flavor and a clove of minced garlic.

two hours was plenty long enough to make the squash soft and delicious (and our house smell like heaven! :)  i flipped over the halves, filling up the holes with rice and covering them neatly with cheese.  (i used slices of muenster, but i’m certain any kind will do!  it’s hard to go wrong with cheese :)

baked butternut squash stuffed with cheese and wild rice 

approximate price: $6