Greek Acorn filled with Ground Meat

Directions

Roast acorn squash

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Prepare the acorn squash. Cut off the top and the bottom of each acorn squash to create a flat base. Keep fingers away from the knife to avoid injury. And, make sure not to cut too deep into the base of the squash. Slice each squash in half. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and fleshy strands tangled with the seeds.

Place acorn squash cut sides up on a baking sheet. Drizzle the cut sides of acorn squashes with olive oil and rub the oil into the squash. Season generously with salt and pepper. Turn the squash over, and place it cut sides down on a baking sheet.

Roast in the preheated oven at 400 F for 30 minutes on the middle rack.

Make Southwestern ground beef filling

While you roast the acorn squash, make the Southwestern ground beef filling.

In a large, high-sided skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat. Add ground beef and cook until completely cooked through. Drain any fat and liquid.

Add all the spices to the drained and cooked ground beef and mix to combine - chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and salt.

Add drained and rinsed black beans, corn, diced mild green chiles, and half of the chopped green onions to the same skillet and mix very well to combine over medium heat.

Taste and season with more spices and more salt, if needed.

How to stuff acorn squash

By this time, you have roasted the acorn squash for 30 minutes. Remove it from the oven and turn the cooked squash halves cut sides up.

Divide the ground beef filling among the 4 halves and stuff the squash until the mixture is leveled or a bit higher.

Top the ground beef stuffed acorn squash with shredded pepper jack and cheddar cheese.

Roast the stuffed acorn squash in the preheated oven at 400 F for 15 more minutes on a medium rack until the cheese mixture melts.

When serving, top with the remaining half of the green onions.