roasted butternut squash stuffed with rice, thyme, bacon + gruyere

it is squash season, hooray! i adore all things squashy- pumpkins, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, and especially, butternut squash.

cut squash in half lengthwise. scoop out seeds and stringy flesh. cut each half into 2 or 3 smaller pieces. it's flesh gets all sweet and intense when roasted in the oven @ 375 degrees for about 45-50 minutes, or until a fork slides easily in and out. don't forget to rub it all over with olive oil, salt and pepper first!

then, you can puree it and make a silky and lightly sweet soup with some fresh thyme or sage. you can eat it my all time favorite way, roasted with a little butter and salt, then sprinkled with brown sugar and a little cinnamon when it comes out of the oven (this is going to be my breakfast tomorrow). or, you can do what i did here tonight, and stuff it with some rice, thyme, soft onions, salty crumbles of bacon and melt some gruyere on top.

what's that? you don't eat no meat?

don't worry, i still respect you. just omit the bacon and call it dinner!

roasted + stuffed butternut squash

1 butternut squash

1/2 yellow onion, diced

4 slices bacon

1T bacon fat, coconut oil or canola oil

1/2 cup rice, cooked with 2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 fresh sage leaf

2 cups fresh spinach

1/4 cup white wine

1 cup grated gruyere cheese

fresh thyme or sage

salt + pepper

roast squash (see above).

cook 1/2 cup of rice with a sprig or 2 of thyme or 1 sage leaf. i used jasmine because that is what i had on hand, but i'm positive that wild rice or massa organics brown rice (the only brown rice we eat) would also be tasty.

cut 4 slices of bacon into 1 inch pieces and cook until crispy and brown.

pour off all but 1T of the bacon fat (or pour it all out and use coconut oil or canola oil) and cook the diced onions and a couple sprigs of thyme or 2 sage leaves for about 5 minutes over medium heat. add the spinach and wine and cook another 3-4 minutes. add in the rice and bacon, stir, taste and season as needed with salt and pepper. pile onto the squash sections, top with gruyere and bake @ 375 for about 10 minutes.