Holiday stuffed acorn squash

Bailey, the cat, redecorates the tree.

The best part of my Christmas tree has been watching my cat, Bailey, entertain himself with all the ornaments. We don't put anything fancy on our tree because we know Bailey will be up to his tricks of batting down ornaments and carrying them off. It's worth it to retrieve an ornament or two because Bailey has so much fun!

Holiday stuffed acorn squash

Christmas dinner is a little different around our house because I am on the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) which means lots of foods are off my menu. The rest of the clan can eat whatever they want. 

This year, I made an amazing stuffed acorn squash. It was filled with all kinds of colorful veggies, which are important to healing on the AIP.

Here's what you need for 2 servings:

1 acorn squash, halved
1 beet, washed, scrubbed and sliced (I used a golden beet.)
8 brussel sprouts, cleaned, trimmed and halved
handful of fresh or frozen cranberries
1 zucchini, sliced into rounds
1 broccoli crown, separated into florets
2-3 chard stalks
1 cup cabbage
1/4 yellow onion, sliced
2 stalks celery, diced
baby greens
olive oil
salt and pepper

Here's what you do:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Use roast setting if available. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Halve and seed acorn squash. Drizzle each half with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in a pan filled with 1 cup water, and put into the oven. Squash will take approximately 30 minutes to cook.

Prepare the broccoli, beet, brussel sprouts and zucchini for roasting in the oven. Distribute all of these on the baking sheets. Spray with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Place in the oven for 20-30 minutes.

While these veggies are roasting, prepare your squash stuffing from the onion, chard, celery and cabbage. Roughly chop all of these veggies and place in a large skillet with olive oil. Saute until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

About 10 minutes before the veggies in the oven are done, add your cranberries to one of the baking sheets. Roast until the cranberries pop.

Once everything is done, assemble your bountiful veggie stuffed squash. Place the acorn squash on top of a bed of greens. Scoop a generous portion of veggie squash stuffing into the acorn squash. Arrange one half of the other  veggies on top and dot with a few cranberries. Season with more salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil, if desired.

"Hey, I was here first!"

Recipe contributed to: http://www.rickiheller.com/2013/12/wellness-weekend-december-26-30-2013/