Stuffed Acorn Squash

How is everybody doing? Everyone must be busy with all the Christmas related parties and get together and preparations.

I actually just came back from Japan. I decided to go there spontaneously and stayed there for three weeks. It was a wonderful trip and my family were super super happy to have us. Our son was very happy to have many people to play with every day. He made my family laughed a lot. It was wonderful to see my family laughing and feeling happy.

I off course ate lots of good food while I was there. The weather in Tokyo was quite nice while I was there. Sunny everyday and the average temp was about 15C everyday which is about 60F.

So now, I am back to NY and experiencing this COLD COLD weather. I really don't like cold weather. Oh well, I should be thankful that I don't have to stay outside all day in this cold weather.

Today, I would like to write about the dish which I made before I went to Japan.

I see lots of pumpkins and squash in fall and I love using those vegetables when it is in season.

I saw a nice acorn squash so I made stuffed acorn squash. I actually made this dish before. I checked when I made it last time and found out that it was 2009. 4 Years ago!! Wow, time flies. If you are interested in the previous acorn post, click here.

I mentioned before also but I first ate stuffed pumpkin back when I was living in California. One night, I went to visit my friend who is French. He got hungry so he got some dinner leftover and ate it. I ate some and that was the first time I ever tried stuffed pumpkin. I thought "Wow, I never had this before. I guess this is some kind of French dish."

I believe they actually used pumpkin but since I found good acorn squash at my local supermarket, I use it. And this time, I added some rice to it also.

I didn't measure anything and I just winged it but this is how I made it.

I cut the top of acorn and took the seeds out. Then, add some brown sugar, salt and pepper and baked in the oven till it is soft.

First, I sautéed carrot, onion and celery.

Then, add ground beef with some spices. I used nutmeg, all spice, cinnamon, etc. When the meat is cooked, I added cooked rice.

When the acorn is soft, take out from the oven and stuff it with rice and meat mixture. Arrange extra mixture around it.

Put the lid back on and serve.

It was good but I made too much mixture. I should have made half of this. Also, I tasted too much All Spice. It has some room for improvement.

By the way, Christmas is approaching before you know it. It is just one week before Christmas!! I am not ready at all but we don't have big Christmas party or anything so I don't feel stressed. We might just go to Manhattan sometime to see the Christmas tree at Rockafellar Center or something like that. It will be nice to do something Christmasy with my family. Also, I would like to make Christmas cookie with my son and husband this weekend :-)

What is your Christmas plan? Hope everybody is having a great Holiday!