One of the things I love about the transition from summer to fall is the emergence of fall squash: acorn, spaghetti, butternut. They are all so versatile and lend themselves to so many great recipes.

I picked up a nice butternut squash at the store last week, not sure what to do with it, but knowing the end result would be delicious.

I decided to make a stuffed butternut squash with some of the things I had lying around my kitchen.

My plan was to bake the squash whole, making it easier to cut, rather than trying to cut it in half first.

I pierced the skin of the squash with a knife, then placed it on a cookie sheet in the oven for about 50 minutes.



When it came out it was piping out and super easy to cut in half.



After scooping out the insides, I set the squash aside while I prepared the filling.



This mix of whole grain rice and quinoa was the star of the show. It came in one of those 90-second microwavable pouches, and couldn't have been easier to prepare.





I have yet to find this in a grocery store in Maryland, so next time I'm home in PA, I plan to stock up.

While the rice was cooking, I went digging through my veggie drawer for an onion and a pepper, but it turns out my veggie drawer was pretty much empty. Guess I'll be restocking this week.

That also meant I had nothing good to mix in with the rice.

With the lack of veggies for extra flavor, I decided I'd spice things up with some cumin, after reading about Erin's butternut squash chili.

I generously sprinkled cumin in the rice and along the neck of the squash.



Then I filled the squash bowl with the rice mix and dug in.



This cumin added a nice kick. The dish was slightly spicy and very yummy. Next time I'll make sure I have more veggies on hand to include in the filling.