Apple & Whole Grain Stuffed Acorn Squash Recipe

This Apple & Whole Grain Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe is easy to prepare while giving your family the best veggies for the meals that matter most this holiday season. It combines affordable, seasonal fresh vegetables with healthy frozen vegetables for a holiday vegetable side dish that is as delicious as it is lovely to serve.

This is a sponsored post for Bird’s Eye Vegetables.

During the holiday season, too much emphasis is put on sweets and desserts and not enough on serving a well-balanced family meal.  Winter is also a time when fresh produce skyrockets in price, leaving people feeling like they cannot afford to offer many vegetable choices at the dinner table. This does not have to be the case when you combine both fresh and frozen veggies to create delicious, healthy recipes that your family will love.

Apple & Whole Grain Stuffed Acorn Squash Recipe

Eyes will light up when you serve this Apple & Whole Grain Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe at dinner this Christmas and New Year. Not only is it appetizing to look at but also full of flavor adults and kids will love – you just gotta get them to try it, one bite and they’ll love it. Personally, I’ve never prepared acorn squash before but we love trying new things so I was excited when I found this recipe on the Bird’s Eye website.

Print Recipe

Apple & Whole Grain Stuffed Acorn Squash Recipe – Enter Bird’s Eye Vegetables Giveaway

Servings

Ingredients

• 1 bag Steamfresh® Protein Blends Italian Style cooked according to packge directions
• 2 medium acorn squash halved and seeded*
• 2 tbsp Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion
• 1 apple cored and diced
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 2 tbsp pine nuts finely chopped

Servings Ingredients 1 bag Steamfresh® Protein Blends Italian Style cooked according to packge directions 2 medium acorn squash halved and seeded* 2 tbsp Tbsp. olive oil 1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion 1 apple cored and diced 1/4 cup dried cranberries 2 tbsp pine nuts finely chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Arrange acorn squash halves cut-side down in shallow
3. casserole dish with ½-inch water. Bake 30 minutes or until squash is fork
4. tender.
5. Meanwhile in large nonstick skillet, heat oil over
6. medium high heat and cook onion and apple, stirring occasionally, 5
7. minutes or until softened. Stir in Italian Blend, cranberries and pine
8. nuts
9. Arrange squash cut side up and evenly fill with
10. Italian Blend mixture and bake an additional 10 minutes.

As you can see, this recipe only takes a few ingredients to prepare but each ingredient adds unique flavor to the recipe.  The acorn squash is readily available this time of year at very little cost. It is so easy to prepare, simply cut them in half, place them cut-side down in 1/2″ of water and bake for 30 minutes in the oven. They are done when the insides are fork tender.

I was most excited to try the new Steamfresh® Protein Blends Italian Style. blend of whole grains, lentils, spinach, broccoli, white beans, and sauce. I’ve served Birds Eye vegetables for many, many years but they’ve never had anything quite like this.

Your kids might even want to help in the kitchen when they see you are making such a unique dish. My son was with me when we went grocery shopping together for this recipe.  Kids who participate in cooking a meal and gardening are twice as likely to eat the recommended 5 servings of vegetables a day, so it only makes sense to encourage our children to cook with us as often as possible.  Older kids like mine will enjoy helping with the entire recipe, including the first step of sauteing the apple and onions.

Of course Birds Eye couldn’t make the stuffing for this recipe any easier than popping the Steamfresh Protein Blends bag in the microwave. Kids of any age can do this but only adults should remove the hot bag.  Birds Eye makes it easy to eat a variety of healthy foods all year round. Frozen vegetables provide just as much nutrition as fresh vegetables but with added convenience and lower costs – especially during the winter season.

Add the Steamfresh veggies to the sauteed onions and apples. Next, add the cranberries and pine nuts.

Arrange the cooked acorn squash cut side up and fill with the Steamfresh blend in each one. This recipe will serve about 10 people, allowing from 1/3 – 1/2 of an acorn squash per person.  

Since this was my first time preparing acorn squash, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I didn’t expect the squash to have any amount of sweetness but it did. I’m sure the addition of the apples and cranberries helped bring the sweetness of the squash out in this recipe. The Steamfresh Protein Blend was amazing. My kids kept asking what was inside the blend because they liked it. We are fans already of the main ingredients of lentils, spinach, and broccoli so it was a perfect fit our dinner table. I love that this recipe is an excellent source of protein, even without meat. Consider this while preparing meals this holiday season for your family, especially for vegetarians on your guest list.

I hope you’ll try this recipe over the holidays with your family. It is a beautiful recipe to share at potlucks too.  Although this recipe looks like it took a long time to prepare, it only takes about 10 minutes of prep work. This allows you to spend more time with your family this holiday season instead of being stuck in the kitchen! Be sure to check out more quick, easy, and delicious recipes on the Birds Eye website.

Win Birds Eye Prize Pack

You have the chance to win Birds Eye branded notebooks, measuring spoons and bag clips, along with 4 VIP coupons for Birds Eye products.
a Rafflecopter giveaway