Recipe by Ashley Smith of Dynamic Duo Nutrition.
This dish is a winter take on a stuffed pepper! Make sure to taste the sauce each time and adjust spices as needed. Don’t worry about making too much sauce because you can save it in the fridge and create another meal out of it!
Ingredients:
5 honeynut squash
1 medium onion
1/2 bulb of minced garlic (about 5-7 cloves)
1 cup green pepper
2.5 cups of long grain rice
1/2 cup of marinara sauce (add more if dry)
1 stalk fresh basil (be liberal with this!)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
A pinch of sugar
1 tsp of salt
splash of almond milk
splash of white wine
Local garlic havarti cheese: 1/2 cup diced AND 5 slices
Preparation:
-Preheat oven to 365 degrees.
-Cook rice.
-Cut off the bottoms and hollow out 5 honeynut squash bottoms. Keep the empty bottoms and 1-2 top halves.
-Grease a casserole dish or cookie sheet
-Heat two squash tops in oven and carve out flesh.
-Add squash flesh to blender along with tomatoes, fresh basil, Italian seasoning, sugar, half of the garlic, salt, and a splash of almond milk until smooth. Set blender mixture aside.
-Dice onion, rest of the garlic and green pepper and then soften in a large cast iron skillet with a splash of white wine until aromatic and browned.
-Add the rice and blender mixture to skillet.
-Once well mixed and warmed, turn off the heat and stir in diced havarti cheese pieces.
-Brush olive oil on the inside and outside of empty squash bottoms and place them in the greased casserole dish.
-Scoop the skillet mixture into each squash until full. Place casserole dish in the oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
-Remove dish from oven and put a slice of havarti cheese on the top of each squash.
-Place dish back in the oven for 10 more minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browned.