RECIPES THAT TAKE THE CAKE, MAKE THE GRADE AND GIVE YOU THE FEELING THAT YOU’RE MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE.
1. Take the acorn squash and cut them in half. Scoop out the seeds.
2. Place the upside-down on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with Pam. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted into them goes in easily.
3. Meanwhile, peel and chop up the apples.
4. Put them in a saucepan with the water and cook for 5 minutes. Add the butter and the stuffing from the box. Turn down the heat to low, cover and allow to stand for 5 minutes.
5. Add the Parmesan cheese. If it seems too dry, add a bit more water, no more than 1/4 C.
6. Take the squash out of the oven. Turn them over on the cookie sheet and fill them with the stuffing. Return to the oven and bake another 15-20 minutes or until the stuffing is piping hot. Cover the squash with aluminum foil to keep the stuffing from drying out.
7. Remove from the oven, take off the foil and top the squash with the Mozzarella cheese. Then return to the oven to melt the cheese, approximately 5-10 minutes.
8. Serve immediately. They can either be the main dish or just a side dish depending on how you want to do it. The tartness of the apples and the savory stuffing plus the sour cheese flavor really do blend amazingly well. Or, you might come up with your own flavor combinations and do it differently. That's what's so great about cooking; if you don't like it, change it! Enjoy! Serves 2-4.
This is such a lovely time of year and there are so many lovely things available in abundance right now and squash is one of them. Squash is one of those 'learn to love it' foods that kind of grow on you, especially when you can come up with something new and different, but not TOO different-- something your family will eat and actually like after they get over the shock of seeing this strange-looking food on the table that they've never had before. Well, this is exactly what this Stuffed Acorn Squash is because not only is it stuffed, it's stuffed with STUFFING plus some other good things that, although they might sound like strange bedfellows, actually do taste good when you combine them all together. How did I come up with this? Well, I was standing in the grocery store recently looking at the acorn squash and the green apples and I thought to myself, I wonder how these would taste together? Then I decided that they wouldn't be that great unless something else was added to them which is when I thought of stuffing. I tried it and it tasted okay, but it wasn't until I added the Parmesan cheese that I knew I had a winner. Topped with Mozzarella cheese, it actually went from good to great. So here is how it's done:
2 medium-size acorn squash
1 box of Stove Top savory herbs stuffing
2 Granny Smith apples
1 1/2 C. water
1/3 C. butter
1/2 C. Parmesan cheese (I use Kraft three cheese blend with Parmesan, Romano and Asiago)
1/2 C. Mozzarella cheese
1. Take the acorn squash and cut them in half. Scoop out the seeds.
2. Place the upside-down on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with Pam. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted into them goes in easily.
3. Meanwhile, peel and chop up the apples.
4. Put them in a saucepan with the water and cook for 5 minutes. Add the butter and the stuffing from the box. Turn down the heat to low, cover and allow to stand for 5 minutes. 
5. Add the Parmesan cheese. If it seems too dry, add a bit more water, no more than 1/4 C.
6. Take the squash out of the oven. Turn them over on the cookie sheet and fill them with the stuffing. Return to the oven and bake another 15-20 minutes or until the stuffing is piping hot. Cover the squash with aluminum foil to keep the stuffing from drying out.
7. Remove from the oven, take off the foil and top the squash with the Mozzarella cheese. Then return to the oven to melt the cheese, approximately 5-10 minutes.
8. Serve immediately. They can either be the main dish or just a side dish depending on how you want to do it. The tartness of the apples and the savory stuffing plus the sour cheese flavor really do blend amazingly well. Or, you might come up with your own flavor combinations and do it differently. That's what's so great about cooking; if you don't like it, change it! Enjoy! Serves 2-4. 
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