The other night, we roasted acorn squash and put our favorite meatball mixture in the center. We baked it up and dinner was SO GOOD!!! I will seriously be doing this more often because it really was simple and delicious! Now, as I ate mine, I scraped the squash up with my fork because it was so tender and delicious, but my kiddos that don’t love squash (there are two) just used theirs as a vessel for the middle part. This really felt like our first “fall dinner”. I hope you and your family enjoy it too!!
This recipe serves six.
Shopping List
3 acorn squash, cut in half
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
salt and pepper
1 pound of ground beef
1 pound of Italian sausage
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 (8 oz) cans of tomato sauce
1 (14 oz) can of diced tomatoes
3 tablespoons Italian seasoning blend
about 1 cup of breadcrumbs
about 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with foil (for easy clean up) and place all six of your squash halves down on top. Drizzle EVOO all over the tops of each half along with a big pinch of both salt and pepper. Place your squash in the oven and roast for 45 minutes.
About the last 15 minutes of your roasting, make the meatball mixture to go inside.
In a large pot over medium-high heat, brown up your ground beef and sausage in a tablespoon or so of EVOO. Once it’s browned and crumbly, stir in a big pinch of salt and pepper followed by the chopped onion. Saute about five minutes or until the onion is tender and then stir in the chopped garlic, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and Italian seasoning. Bring this mixture to a bubble and then reduce the heat to medium-low.
Reduce your oven temp to 350 degrees.
Remove your roasted squash from the oven and quickly divide this meat mixture between the six halves. After that, sprinkle your breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan down over each half before popping them back in the oven to bake another 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and enjoy!
This will be on repeat in our house! xo
Erika Slaughter says
These look delicious!!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
Perfect recipe to take advantage of the fall produce! Yum! 🙂
–
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Lisa C in Dallas says
I tried to comment on the appropriate recipe but I don’t think it was open for comments. Anyway, I made your enchilada quinoa soup this weekend. It was delicious!
Elizabeth Whisler says
So I made this last night for the family…I was nervous…two teens swear they loathe all squash. They really aren’t picky eaters at all, but yellow squash and zucchini is not their jam and really the only things they give me any lip about. They have it in their heads that all squash tastes the same. But I know their love for sausage, meatballs, tomato sauce runs deep so I figured I’d give it a shot and if they only ate the meat mixture so be it. Well….they both scarfed it all down and had to begrudgingly admit they liked it! Winning! Hubby and I loved it too!!
Mix and Match Mama says
Yay!!! This makes me so happy!!!