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Thanks goes out again to my friend Gail, who has started doing some guest blogs for me. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it and she always come up with good posts!
When my daughter (a new mother who rarely eats meat), one of her high school friends (who is expecting twins), and her friend’s mother (who is also a dear friend of mine and has a gluten allergy) came for lunch the day before Thanksgiving, the question became, What Should the Menu Be? My husband, of course, suggested that we go out to eat, but I knew that scheduling something with an infant in the mix had the potential to be stressful.
The result…with the help of my trusty iPad…a yummy butternut squash with quinoa! I surveyed many recipes on line, and finally decided just to use the ingredients I had on hand and keep my fingers crossed.
Quinoa, the current rage of food enthusiasts, served as the stuffing, along with sautéed kale, mushrooms, garlic, and onions (which I rinsed with water to reduce the strong flavor). A few spices added some culinary sparkle and the quinoa mixture was ready to join the butternut squash.
Quinoa Stuffed Butternut Squash
Ingredients
1 bunch of Kale
1 onion
3 gloves garlic, minced
Spices
1 – 2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 cups cooked quinoa
Butternut squash (1/2 per person)
Olive oil
1. Prepare the squash by first cutting in half and then de-seeding, brush the squash with olive oil and then place face down on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes to 1 hour – needs to be fork tender.
2. Cook the quinoa according to directions.
3. Wash and cut the kale, mushrooms and onion. After cutting the onion, rinse in cold water to reduce the strong flavor.
4. Saute the vegetables in a pan, adding the minced garlic and spices of your choice.
5. Add the quinoa to the vegetables and mix well.
6. I placed the cooked quinoa mixture into the squash cavity, added a salad and some green beans and lunch was ready! And a hit it was!
(As a variation, my husband suggested melting some cheese on top of the quinoa…. Not a bad idea, but it was delicious without it also.)
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Beautiful presentation and sounds delicious!!