Baked and Stuffed Acorn Squash

This was a dinner experiment. Turns out, it's one of my favorite experiments thus far!

My mom has a garden that she diligently tends, and frequently my sister and I inherit some of the pickin's. We had been talking about making little squash-bowl bakes somehow, so when my mom offered me the acorn squash, I was tickled. I was so excited to try it. It seems like the perfect introduction to Fall (officially, as of yesterday!!!).

What I used:

• 1 Acorn squash 
• Tiny Tomatoes (literally, the size of a penny) from the farmer's market, probably around 10
• Pesto- I got mine from 3 Rivers Market, a local co-op
• Trader Joe's medium salsa
• 1 egg
• Salt and pepper to taste

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

First, cut off the top of the acorn squash, and hollow out the middle. I shaved a little bit of the meat on the sides out just to make room for the stuffing.

Cut the tiny tomatoes in half. Put about a third of them in the bottom of the squash "bowl."



Next layer about 3 spoon-fulls of salsa on top of those tomatoes.

Then crack your egg on top of that.

Fill the rest of the bowl up almost to the top- but not quite- with about 3 spoon-fulls (heaping ones in my case) of pesto. Then top with the rest of the Tiny Tomatoes.



Put your bowl on a cookie sheet or in an oven safe dish, because as the egg cooks it will expand a little, causing the stuffing to rise. Just in case you have any spillage- better safe than sorry!

Baked for 45 minutes total, checking on the progress every 15. For the last 15 I turned the oven up to 500. It was close to being done, but needed a little longer to penetrate the squash bowl into the center.

When I checked on it at 15 minute intervals, I poked a utensil into the stuffing to see how the egg was cooking. It ended up mixing it with some of the other ingredients, which was completely fine, and may have helped it cook.

Then, you are ready to dig in!! Add salt and pepper to taste.

The skin of the acorn squash will be crispy, serving as a good way to scoop the tender insides if you need it. :)

Happy Fall, ya'll!