A Better Bag of Groceries

Marvelous Meals with Rachel: Acorn Squash

Wednesday, March 3, 2010 at 10:06 AM

Welcome to Marvelous Meals with Rachel, a regular feature here on A Better Bag of Groceries. 

Rachel Rodek, MS, RD, LDN is my wonderful foodie friend and co-worker at NuVal.  In fact, Rachel is Manager of Nutrition Communications (is that a great job, or what?) for NuVal, so she is someone who I consult with regularly when my blog-readers have nutrition questions that I don’t know how to answer. 

Rachel, who is getting married in three short months, loves to spend time in her kitchen with her fiance, creating delicious new recipes using ingredients with high NuVal scores.  For today’s post, she prepared a recipe centered around Acorn Squash that makes a well-rounded main meal.  Honestly, it doesn’t get any better than this! 

So, without further ado, heeeeerrrrree’s Rachel!

Everyone has their go-to dinner veggies.  The ones you pick up just about every week because they’re tried and true.  I rotate between broccoli and asparagus, and always have a bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables on hand (the kind with the tasty water chestnuts).  But this can get boring – I mean, how many ways can you actually cook broccoli before you get tired of it?

Not only that, but vegetables and fruit are like nature’s multi-vitamin.  Each type contains a different array of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients (more commonly known as antioxidants), so sticking with the same vegetable over and over again limits the variety of nutrients in your diet.  Produce is the highest scoring category in the NuVal system, reflecting the overall positive nutrient density and lack of substances that affect health negatively.

And yet picking up a new vegetable is almost risky.  How do you cook it?  How will it taste?  Will it take too long to cook? 

Only recently have I become more experimental with my cooking.  I take the chance because you never know if you’re going to like something until you’ve put it to the test.  And the right recipe can work wonders. 

Boy did I find a good one for acorn squash!  The recipe, which I found at www.eatingwell.com,  also calls for chard, but I’ve made it with kale too and it’s equally enjoyable (yes, I’ve made it twice now).  Both the chard and acorn squash had never entered my kitchen before, but just as with the Brussels sprouts, these veggies will now start filtering into my veggie line up.

It’s quick, simple, and truly delicious. 

Ingredients:

1 medium acorn squash, halved and seeded (NuVal score 99)

1 small onion, chopped (NuVal score 100)

1 garlic clove, minced (Score 91)

1 small can (4oz) of tomato sauce, no salt added (Score 82)

4 cups chopped chard leaves (Score 100)

¾ cup canned white beans,  rinsed (Score 57.  Dried without added ingredients scores a 92, sodium brings the score down in canned beans )

3 Tbsp kalamata olives, chopped (Score 10)

3 Tbsp breadcrumbs

Salt and pepper

1 ½ teaspoons olive oil (Score 11.  Trade up to canola oil for a score of 24)

Optional:  2 chicken sausages, chopped (Score 22)

Pre heat broiler.

Cut a small slice off the bottom of each squash half so it rests flat. 

Lightly sprinkle insides with salt and pepper.  Place in a microwave safe dish, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave on high for 12 minutes or until the squash is fork-tender.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic, stirring until starting to brown, about 2 to 3 minutes.  Stir in tomato sauce and pepper to taste.  Stir in chard, cover and cook until tender, 3 to 5 minutes.  Stir in white beans and olives (and chicken sausage if you want), cook until heated through, about 1 to 2 more minutes.  Remove from heat.

Fill each squash half with a generous amount the chard mixture.  Place on a baking sheet or keep in baking dish from the microwave.  Sprinkle with breadcrumbs. 

Broil in center of oven until breadcrumbs are browned, 2 to 3 minutes.

Enjoy!

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Posted by: Melissa 3 comments

Posted in: Marvelous Meals

Tags: acorn squash