Autumn eats

The first couple of weeks in the new house felt kind of like being on vacation--the kind of vacation where you still have to work and clean and change diapers, but still, the novelty of the place put us in that woo! adventure! let's have pizza for dinner always! mindset.  Either that or we just used the move as an excuse to eat terribly.  But I prefer the vacation-brain theory.

Regardless, it was time to get mealtimes back to normal, partially so we don't all develop diabeetus and partially because I don't want for us to fall out of the routine of sitting down to a reasonably healthy, real-food dinner most nights.  Which is extra important when you have impressionable tiny people around who at any given time are one lollipop away from going completely feral.

So I made a trip to the almost-too-adorable-to-be-real Matthews Community Farmers Market on Saturday, and found all kinds of non-lollipop things.  Including these little squash, which are called Leprechaun Squash! 

Daddy squash, Mama squash, Remy squash.

 The farmer I bought them from said they were very similar to acorn squash, so I decided to stuff them and bake them.  This resulted in something too delicious not to share, so I'm writing the recipe down for once in hopes that when autumn rolls around again next year, I won't be standing in the kitchen going, "remember that really good stuffed squash I made last year? how the hell did I make that?"

If you don't have the extreme good fortune of finding Leprechaun Squash, acorn squash will do just fine for this.  The below recipe serves two since I made Remy a "deconstructed" version that he could eat more easily.

Bacon Quinoa Stuffed Squash

 2 medium leprechaun or acorn squash
1 tablespoon cold butter, divided  
6 strips uncured bacon
1 cup cooked quinoa (I used red because it's prettier)
1/4 cup crumbled plain soft goat cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped chives
1 teaspoon Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning (you need this in your life if it isn't already)
Dash cayenne pepper, or to taste
1/3 cup shredded sharp white cheddar cheese, divided

Preheat your oven to 400.  Cut the tops off the squash, scoop out the seeds,and place a piece of the cold butter inside each.  Cook bacon over medium-high heat until crispy (and then reserve a bit of the bacon fat to saute kale in to get your husband to eat it, if you're crafty).  Crumble bacon and combine with cooked quinoa, goat cheese, chives, and seasonings.  Fill squash equally with the quinoa mixture, then top each with shredded cheddar.  Bake in a small casserole loosely covered with foil for 1 hour.

Prep time for this was about 15 minutes, so hands-on time is quick and simple. 


And now here is a completely unrelated gratuitous Remy shot!