Stuffed Acorn Squash, a-la Paleo

I tried another of Chrissy Gower's recipes from "Paleo slow cooking, Gluten Free Recipes Made Simple"

http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Title/book--q1Yej_iI0SMMcmyuc2Hdg/page1.html?utm_source=productlistings&utm_medium=g&utm_campaign=title-Paleo+Slow+Cooking%3a+Gluten+Free+Recipes+Made+Simple&gclid=CLCx9dKP4bcCFXRk7AodtSQAzA 

I had never before had stuffed acorn squash.  I had never had acorn squash, but the picture in the book looked so good, that I HAD to try it for myself.

The stuffing is simple, a pound of Italian Sausage, onion, mushrooms, spinach, and the squash.

3 Acorn Squash 5.25 lbs @ 1.38 per lb                    $ 7.25
2 onions                                                                     $   .40
Mushrooms - 8oz clamshell                                       $ 1.59
1 lb mild italian Pork Sausage                                    $ 2.79
spinach leaves (1/2 an 8 oz bag)                                $   .75
                                                              TOTAL  = $ 12.78 (or 2.13 per serving)

I finally made a salad from my own home grown lettuce! Large bowl of lettuce from the garden, and some odds and ends from the refrigerator (1/2 a leftover tomato, handful of olives the kids had leftover from a snack, and half a carrot from a smoothie that I had made earlier.)  So, a basically free salad.

In a sauté pan, I caramelized my onions, then added my mushrooms.  After a few minutes, I added the Italian Pork Sausage, after cutting it out of the casings.  While that cooked, I bisected my acorn squash lengthwise, and scooped out the seeds.  I added the seeds to my garden beds, just in case I get them to grow.  :-)

Instead of using my crock pot, because there would not have been enough room for everything, I used the alternate cooking directions for the oven.  350 degrees for an hour.  They turned out fabulously!

I would suggest having a hand towel on hand, because we found it difficult to try to dig each bite out individually.  Much easier to get your entire serving onto your plate, and go from there. :-)  We took a hand towel doubled over for the protection of our hand, then scooped the squash totally empty and down to it's skin onto our plates, and dug in.  AMAZING TASTE!

For the $12.78, we got 4 really good dinner servings, and enough leftovers for two more full meals.

The next morning, I took one of the servings, mashed it a bit, and fried it up with some eggs for Husband and myself, and it was delicious!  He put Sriracha over his for an extra kick, and I took mine plain.  SO GOOD!

Okay, so that breakfast breakdown was one serving of the acorn squash ($2..13) and 5 eggs (@ 10 cents each = $ .50) So, a nice breakfast for 2 for $2.63, and I would put it up against any breakfast at any restaurant - especially at $1.32 per serving!!  Wait, I forgot the sprinkle of cheese, so add $.15 per serving, for a grand total of $1.47 per breakfast for Husband and myself.

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