Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 3 large acorn squash, sliced in half and seeded
- Cooking spray
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 pound ground turkey (lean if preferred)
- 3 garlic cloves, pressed or chopped
- 1 large shallot, chopped
- 1/4 cup shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 cup cooked brown rice
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2 green onions, chopped (green parts only)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray the fleshy part of the acorn squash and place the squash halves on a baking sheet cut side down. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the flesh is slightly tender.
- Meanwhile, heat a skillet on medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon of the oil and brown the ground turkey for about 5 minutes, or until no longer pink. Remove from the pan and set aside in a large mixing bowl.
- Wipe out the pan and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil on medium-high heat. Sauté the garlic and shallots for 2 minutes. Add in the shiitake mushrooms and cumin and sauté another 3 minutes. Mix in the brown rice and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and fresh thyme. Stir well to combine and add to the mixing bowl with the ground turkey.
- Using a spoon, remove some of the flesh from each acorn squash half to make the cavity slightly larger. Add the removed flesh to the mixing bowl mixture and toss to combine. Take equal portions of the filling from the mixing bowl and place into the cavity of each acorn squash half.
- Place the baking tray back into the 400 degrees oven and cook for 20 minutes. Top each acorn squash half with sprinkles of the shredded mozzarella cheese. Put back in the oven and cook another 5 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly.
- When ready to serve, garnish with the chopped green onions.
Notes
- You can microwave the acorn squash for a few minutes to soften it before you slice it in half. You may save a finger or two that way!
- Remove all of the seeds before roasting. I recently learned that it's not good to put pumpkin or squash seeds down the garbage disposal (for some reason!).
- Don't add the cheese too early. You don't want it to burn, so add it at the very end of the cooking process. The cheese is the best part, right?
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stove-top / Oven
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 254
- Sugar: 0.4 g
- Sodium: 163.8 mg
- Fat: 11.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 24.3 g
- Protein: 17.6 g
- Cholesterol: 53.7 mg
