Acorn Squash Stuffed with Sausage, Apple, Cranberries and Goat Cheese


I am forever collecting recipes that look good and inspire me to try new things.  During my searches I found one that sounded really great, as a side dish.  I found it on one of my favorite gluten free recipe resource blogs, elana’s pantry.  Since I have to eat gluten free I spent a lot of time looking for resources and her blog is a fantastic one.

So, this recipe is inspired by her Acorn Squash with AppleCranberry Stuffing recipe.  I wanted something that was more of a main dish (and when I say main dish to my husband that means it needs to contain meat).  The result was everything I hoped it would be, a little sweet, a little salty all with the wonderfully earthy flavor of goat cheese.  It all came together in something I can only describe as comfort food.  It will be a go to dish for years to come. This is what I did to make it a main dish using her base recipe:

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Sausage, Apple, Cranberry and Goat Cheese
Inspired by a recipe from Elana’s Pantry
Serves 2

1 acorn squash
Boiling water
½ lb mild Italian Sausage
1 apple
¼ C dried cranberries
½ tsp cinnamon
Salt to taste
1 T coconut oil
2 oz. goat cheese

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  • Cut squash in half, remove pulp and seeds
  • Place squash, cut side down, in a baking dish and pour in water until about ¼” up the squash
  • Bake for approximately 30 minutes, until nearly done
  • While squash is baking brown italian sausage then drain fat
  • Chop apple into about ¼” pieces and put into a bowl to mix with cranberries, oil, cinnamon and salt and set aside
  • Take squash out of the oven and turn so the cut side is up
  • Mix the Italian sausage into the apple mixture then “stuff” into the squash
  • Top with drops of goat cheese
  • Put back in the oven and bake for an additional 30-45 minutes or until squash is done and apple is tender
  • Serve while hot with a side salad dressed with a simple balsamic vinaigrette
If you are interested in finding more really yummy and healthy recipes head over to the elana's pantry website and check it out, you are not going to be disappointed!

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