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

butternut squash and spicy quinoa tostadas

i wasn’t sure where dinner was going when i began, so i baked the butternut squash the same way i did for stuffing them (halved lengthwise, rubbed with olive oil, facedown on a baking sheet).

there was nothing too special about the quinoa (1:2 grain/water), tho we have more spicy peppers than we could possibly know what to do with, so i got a little bold and added five small minced jalapenos (no seeds!), along with the standard butter, garlic and salt (what oh what would life be like without them??).

i also added a medium sauteed yellow onion (also the standard in my kitchen! ;)

i still wasn’t sure what i was doing by the time the squash came out of the oven, but realized we’d payed $6 for buttermilk tortillas at the store earlier--mistake or not, they sure as heck weren’t gonna last very long so i figured i better get them in there somehow!  :)

i put four on a baking sheet (we have a round one we use for pizzas) and shredded cheese on top, putting them in the still hot oven ‘til the cheese got melty.  i then added layers of quinoa and squash spooned out of the skin, another layer of cheese, and a sprinkling of green onions.  i put them back in the oven long just enough to melt the cheese (we were hungry!). 

we’re waiting on our own fresh corn to get big enough to feast on, but in the meantime we got organic ears from the store.  i’ve always heard people swear on either boiling or steaming for ten minutes.  works for me.

butternut squash and spicy quinoa tostadas

approximate price: $7