Fresh From Nancy's Garden

A Fun Place For Gardening Tips and Great Recipes

Thanksgiving Stuffing…Stuffed in Squash!

1 Comment

You don’t need a turkey to enjoy this stuffing! If you’re a vegetarian, leave out the bacon and if you’re a vegan use vegetable broth and olive oil. No matter what your taste, this is perfectly delicious for Thanksgiving! And for my readers around the world who aren’t celebrating Thanksgiving this month, it’s a great side dish. Not to mention, it’s super simple to make and it photographs really well!

You can even make this a day ahead and then reheat in the oven after you take out the turkey.

I wish I could say the ingredients are all from my garden, but sadly, they’re not.

**Just a reminder, at the top left of the page where you see Classic View, highlight it, and click on Flipcard.**

INGREDIENTS

4 slices bacon
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
2 TBS bacon pan drippings
2 TBS butter
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1 12oz. box of Mrs. Cubbisons stuffing (I used corn bread)
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
2 colorful winter squash

Preheat oven to 400.

Chop onion and celery into small pieces. 
Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds and membrane.
I tried a few different utensils and found a large spoon and a melon baller worked best.
Fry bacon in a large pan. Set aside to drain.

Remove all but 2 TBS bacon grease and add onion and celery to the medium hot pan.

Season with poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Crumble bacon and add to pan then stir in butter and cook until onions are translucent and celery is tender. 
Turn off stove and add stuffing. Add chicken broth and stir. Taste for seasoning and adjust. 
Arrange squash cut side up in a Pyrex roasting pan. Add 1/2 cup of water, cover with foil and bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 20 minutes or until tender, depending on the size of your squash.
 
**At this point, you could refrigerate both the squash and the stuffing and assemble the next day. Try to bring them to room temp if you do this so it won’t take too long to reheat.**
Now for the assembly. Gently spoon the stuffing into the squash cavity. If the stuffing seems dry, add a little water. It will cook out.
 
Return to hot oven and bake for 15 minutes or until stuffing is a little crispy on top.

As you can see, this will easily serve eight people if you cut them in half. But first let everyone see how nice they look!

Here’s wishing all of my friends and readers around the world a very Happy Thanksgiving. And as always, Enjoy.

I have a special welcome to my newest readers in Croatia! Remember, you can read all about my town–and be the first to read my blog–every Friday at Stu News.



Categories: Holidays, Sides, Thanksgiving, Vegetables

Tags: , ,

1 reply ›

  1. janine robinson
    November 17, 2012 • 8:34 pm

    These are beautiful! I've been looking for some "plant-based" Thanksgiving dishes, and love how we get both squash and stuffing in one dish. These will grace our table! Thanks, Nancy! And hope you have a terrific Thanksgiving, too. So much to be grateful for!!

    Reply ↓

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