Acorn Squash with Apple Bacon Stuffing

Ingredients

1 acorn squash

2 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp ground sage

1 apple, diced

1/2 pear, diced

1/2 onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, pressed

4 slices tempeh bacon

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

2 Tbs Earth Balance butter

4 cups water with 2 vegetable bouillon cubes

Enough bread to fill a 9X13 pan, cubed (mix of wild rice bread & sunflower bread)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Slice squash in half, spoon out seeds, place in baking dish flesh side up, rub with olive oil, and sprinkle with garlic powder, thyme, and sage; bake 1 hour

3. Meanwhile, place bread cubes in 9X13 pan and toast in oven with the squash for 20 mins

4. Boil 4 cups of water, add vegetable bouillon cubes to make broth

5. Saute onion in butter for 5 mins, then add apple, pear, bacon, walnuts, garlic, sage, and thyme; saute 4 mins

6. Add broth to the bread cubes until lightly moisten and not soggy (about a little more than half of the broth)

7. Mix bread cubes with apple bacon mixture, stuff into cooked squash, put remaining stuffing back in lightly oiled 9X13 pan, and place both pans back in oven for 20 mins

This was the perfect fall dinner for a rainy evening! It warms up the house and fills the air with the smells of Thanksgiving! Eric was a huge fan of this meal and the best part was that I was able to keep the food in the oven on warm until he got home from work. This was my first attempt at home-made stuffing and I found out that it was really easy! I went searching through my freezer for random bread slices, which was a great way to clean out my freezer. I actually used 2 large wild rice hoagie buns. The leftover vegetable broth is also nice to sip on while your waiting for the rest of the meal to cook. I really like the flavor of the broth! The half pear was leftover, so feel free to skip it or add more. The acorn squash was from the farmer's market a couple of weeks ago. I was trying to find the perfect recipe for it. Good thing they last a long time! If I were to make this again I would definitely add mushrooms. Unfortunately we were out of mushrooms tonight, but even without them it was great!