Tex-Mex Stuffed Acorn Squash

Greetings!

I pulled this recipe from Prevention Magazine's Flatten your belly with food... (Intriguing, I know..)

It needs a little something, something. I'm not sure if it's just because I had eaten something spicy right before hand or not. Perhaps I just needed some salt on it.

Here it is:
(4 servings)

2 Acorn Squash
2 tsp Olive Oil
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup canned black beans, rinsed, drained
1/2 cup pine nuts (Fareway doesn't sell these, so I subbed sunflower seeds)
1 large tomato, coarsely chopped
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
2 oz Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Coat rimmed baking sheet with olive oil spray.

Brush cut sides and cavity of squash with oil. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper. Place cut-side down on prepared baking sheet. Bake 30 to 40 minutes until tender (don't pierce with fork). Turn cut-side up

Mix beans, pine nuts, tomato, scallions, cumin, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper in medium bowl. Spoon heaping 1/2 cup of bean mixture into each squash half, pressing down gently to get all filling in. Sprinkle evenly with cheese.

Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until cheese is melted and golden brown

let cool and then eat :)
I did take a photo of it, but my phone and computer aren't cooperating with the blue tooth connections. My apologies

The Great Squash

My mom sent me vegetables from the family farm in Indiana--through the mail all the way to California for my birthday. She said she wanted to know how far they could travel. She sent me a sweet potato and she sent me a squash which I mis-identified initially as a yellow zucchini.

The yellow vegetable arrived in not quite ship-shape condition in case you are planning to send vegetables across the country to your relatives. It was wrapped in a wet paper towel inside a ziploc bag and the very end had to go right away--the rest though was fine. It made the box smell like farm water--and if you've had the opportunity to smell farm water before, you know it's a little putrid. The sweet potato looked as though it had been just picked and filled up the box, but that's a different story.

I'm not a big squash fan. I couldn't think of many family recipes in which squash was a factor. I hemmed and hawed. Finally I decided to make this. I bought all the ingredients and then I put it off. I didn't make it and the squash sat. Finally I told myself that this squash was ready to be eaten and I was going to do it, no matter what.

So I hunkered down and decided against the ribbons (I'm not a fan of the vegetable peeler). I cut up the squash into discs. I cut up part of the red onion into little pieces. I cut up a green pepper that might be sweet--but might also be spicy--I don't remember. I cut up a little bit of sweet yellow pepper. And I cut up a little tiny spicy pepper that I got for something else--and I don't know what it is or what the spice content was--but it's pretty.

I sauteed the onion in a little bit of olive oil for a little and when it got fragrant I added the remaining ingredients and sauteed some more. I added a little salt, a little pepper, a little Jamacian Jerk Seasoning (I'm more aware of the Jamacians than usual because of the Olympics!) And when I could see a little browning and smell the squash I decided it was done--the only thing worse than squash is squishy squash.

The verdict? A pretty good vegetable stir-fry.