Lamb Stuffed Acorn Squash

This recipe is truly a lot easier to make than it looks I was so excited for a yummy "gourmet" meal on a weekday night.  Today was a busy day, running errands in town is never a small task when you live in the middle of the desert.  It is basically a whole day extravaganza, basically you are not getting anything else worth while done the day you run to town.  Its about a 45 min drive to get to the nearest "metropolitan" area, I use this term loosely, but if you need basically anything besides a Dooney and
Burke handbag it is the only place to go.  I still will never really fully understand the need to fill the ONLY store on base with things most people never buy on a regular basis, I get the no tax lower price thing, but really in over 12 years in the military I have never found the need to buy an overpriced handbag that is slightly marked down because it is on base.  I mean really can't we get a wider selection of curtains, or small appliances or just about anything worthwhile?  Ok sorry that's my rant for lack of selection at our base store. 


At any rate by the time you get home from "town" you just want to collapse on the couch because mentally you are done, rationalizing with a 3 year old for 3 hours to not hop out of the cart when its moving because they will crack their head open, or saying "no you can not have a huge bag of candy," for the millionth time will leave even the most optimistic town goer ready to check themselves into the mental hospital.  I am not even kidding his exact words at one point were "I need to get out of here!"  and by here he is referring to the cart, he hates sitting still so this was like absolute torture.  It was a long game of distractions that went something like this:  Eric "Get me out of here!" Me:  "Oh look Eric at these pretty flowers..."  Eric:  "I really want out of here"  Me:  "Just a little bit longer, how do you like these curtains?"  Eric:  "I don't like curtains"  3 hours later (not really)  Eric:  "I want candy! I want to go home!"  Me:  "We have to do a few more things then we can go home..."  Screw it we are going home, no matter how optimistic I am before leaving my house to go to town  99% of the time I only get about 2 out of 5 things actually done in town.  Oh and did I mention almost losing my Iphone in the restroom, because I was busy making sure the midget didn't touch every germ infested fixture.  Thank goodness a good soul turned it into customer service or that would have been a VERY expensive trip to Target.  And speaking of Target, does anybody ever just go in and spend less than $200?  I don't think that's even possible..I mean seriously that Facebook meme with the hypnotic woman and Target, yes that is so true!  I mean I really did need curtains right?  Well anyways whenever I do go to town and my husband asks me later how my day was and what did I do?  I just say that I was simply stimulating the economy, and he says "Oh how was Target?"  But seriously if you do go to Target and spend less than $200 please comment because I can't even believe there is a single person out there who could do that, unless you are a freak of nature....

That leads me to this recipe, I had 3 glorious acorn squash up on my counter eyeing me when I got home so I decided they would be the star of dinner tonight.  Coupled with some diced pear and ground lamb, this was super yummy and I am so excited we have a lot leftover because I am considering eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner tomorrow! 

Ingredients:

• 3 Acorn squash (split in half with seeds scooped out)
• 1-2 pounds of ground lamb (or pork, beef, bison)
• 2 tbsp of coconut oil (plus more for putting in squash)
• nutmeg
• 1 large onion(diced)
• 3 garlic cloves diced
• 4-6 carrots (peeled and diced)
• 2 large pears (I used Bosc)
• 1/4 cup diced pecans
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley (chopped)
• 1/4 cup fresh sage (chopped)
• 1/4 cup fresh thyme (chopped)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 6 eggs (optional, I only did this to a few of them)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare squash while preheating:  Cut each in half and scoop out the seeds.  Place about 1 tsp of coconut oil on top of each half (it will melt while baking) sprinkle each half with nutmeg.  Place in a couple glass baking dishes with 1 cup of water in each dish, cover tightly with foil and bake for approximately 40 minutes.  While the squash are baking you can prepare the meat stuffing.  Peel and dice up all of the veggies and herbs ( a food chopper comes in handy for this since you want a small dice).  In a large skillet melt the coconut oil then add the onion and saute until slightly brown around the edges, then add in the carrot, saute for a few more minutes until somewhat soft.  Add in the meat (I used 2 pounds as I wanted a lot leftover even though there will be much more than needed to stuff each of the squash, this meat stuffing will go good just with eggs in the morning too)  Cook until the meat is browned then toss in the garlic and herbs as well as the salt and pepper.  Mix around and cook for an additional 5 minutes.  At last minute add the diced pears and pecans to the meat mixture.  When the squash are finished take them out, jack up the heat on the oven to about 375 degrees, and  stuff them full of meat stuffing, then if desired, carefully, crack an egg over the top of the meat.  Be sure to have the squash as level as possible or it will slide right off.  Put back in the oven gently and cook for about 10-15 minutes more, longer depending on if you are using egg or not, mine took about 12 minutes to set, you could do 10 without egg though its just long enough to warm and meld the flavors.  Enjoy the nice warm heartiness of this yummy meal, and it looks so pretty you can even serve it to guests!