Acorn Squash Bowls

I warned you that I was butternut squash obsessed, right? Well, that maaaaay have expanded. I also have a Hubbard squash and a couple sugar pumpkins to play with... Yay! 

When I bought my enormous load of butternuts, I also grabbed an acorn squash, which, believe it or not... I've never eaten. My mom cooks it all the time, but I was just completely turned off by its appearance. If anyone is gathering by this point that my mom is a terrible cook, you'd actually be incorrect, I ate lots of tasty things growing up, but we just did not and do not see eye to eye on certain methods of food prep. For example, she prepared acorn squash by cutting it in half and baking it with brown sugar and walnuts in the hollow center, which I thought to be just... weird. I hate nuts cooked into food. Doesn't everyone? No? Well, ok... Moving on. 

Well, I didn't like butternut squash growing up either, but it turns out that I just don't like all the sugar and gunk that Americans think is necessary to add. So, considering my newfound appreciation for certain foods, namely butternut and sweet potato... I thought it was time to give acorn a try too. Today, I was trying to figure out what to do with it, as I was QUITE sure, I did not want the traditional brown sugar filling. 

Then I found something on PaleOMG.com (one of my favorite sites by the way). Baked Acorn Squash CANDY.  What? Candy? 

But, holy crap, it IS candy. I thought I was eating dessert for dinner. I think acorn squash may be my new favorite food. Yeah, I said it. Favorite. I look forward to playing with it more. In the meantime, here's what I did based on Juli's recipe:

Baked Acorn Squash Bowls

1 acorn squash

2 slices of bacon

Cinnamon

Sea salt

Preheat oven to 415.

Cut the squish in half from top to bottom and scoop out seeds (reserve your seeds for roasting!). 

Place halves cut side down on a baking sheet or dish and bake for about 25 minutes, till soft (squishy!)

While squash is baking, cook bacon in a pan on the stove till crispy. Place on a papertowel covered plate to drain excess fat, but reserve the fat in the pan. 

Once you remove the squash from the oven, flip over so the cut side is up. 

Using a couple forks (don't burn yourself!), scrape and mash the squash inside the skin. Add a small spoonful of the bacon grease from the pan to each squash half, then crumble in a slice of bacon to each. Add salt and cinnamon to taste and mix well. 

Mmm, this made it super easy. Lookit that!

Serve in the skin "bowl" with whatever your heart desires. Enjoy!

Im intrigued to see if this would work as well with another source of fat, such as coconut oil or ghee. Care to give it a try and let me know?