Baked Stuffed Acorn Squash

The rain poured down in buckets on Friday so I decided to make some heart-warming, stick-to-your ribs baked stuffed acorn squash. I'd been meaning to try this recipe for well over a year, ever since my daughter-in-law, Johanna's grandmother Peggy gave me the recipe. So, again, thank you Peggy!
You can see in this close-up of one of the squashes that I substituted cooked buckwheat for cooked brown rice. I tend to have high cholesterol and high blood pressure, and buckwheat can help reduce both of those things. Check it out here. It's also gluten free, for those of you with gluten allergies.
Winter squashes like acorn squash are also packed full of nutrients such as Vitamin A in the form of beta carotene, not to mention fiber and loads of other vitamins. So, our baked stuffed acorn squashes were not only nutritious, they were delicious, too, and we have them as leftovers for another night.
I ate a whole half, but Jerry only had half of a half because we also had steak and broccoli.

Baked Stuffed Acorn Squash

2 acorn squash, halved and seeded
2 cups cooked brown rice or cooked buckwheat (cook 1 cup rice with 2 1/3 cups chicken broth)
2 stalks celery, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp dried sage or poultry seasoning
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tbs chopped fresh parsley
½ cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
¾ cup dried cranberries
salt to taste (or about 1/2 tsp)

Slice off the bottom of each acorn squash half so that it will be stable and set the four halves on a 10”x15”x1” pan. Pour ½ cup of water into pan. Sauté celery and onion in olive oil until tender. Stir in sage, thyme, parsley, rice, pecans and cranberries. Salt to taste. I also added 1 tsp garlic powder because Jerry says everything tastes better with garlic powder, except for ice cream. Fill each acorn squash. You will have a lot of the stuffing left over, so put it in a casserole dish and save it for another meal. Cover the stuffed squashes in the pan with heavy duty aluminum foil that has been sprayed with PAM (spray cooking oil) and bake at 350° for 50 to 60 minutes.

Eat it with a spoon right down to the peel---yumm! I suppose you could eat the peel, too, for a little extra fiber, but I didn't.

Bon appetit!