Butternut squash stuffed with vegetables and quinoa
Stuff it - this is a colourful meal through and through. Once the squash is oven bound you have plenty of time to prepare the stuffing. The result looks substantial, yet it’s light, tasty, full of goodness and has plenty of health benefits too.
Rammed with healthy veg, it’s low in calories and high in nutrition, what more can a menopausal woman ask for!
they are positively stuffed full of goodness to combat your perimenopause woes.
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 1hour 10mins
Ingredients
1 medium butternut squash
Olive oil, for coating and 2tbsp for cooking
Pinch dried oregano
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
100g dried quinoa cooked according to the instructions
1 low sodium vegetable stock cube (optional)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
50g chestnut mushrooms, chopped
1 red pepper, diced
6 cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 small carrot, grated
Small bunch chives, snipped
50 toasted pine nuts
50g pitted black olives, chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
100g feta cheese, diced or crumblede syrup or agave nectar
¼ tsp salt
Method
Preheat the oven to 200 fan. Halve the butternut squash, scoop out the seeds and score the flesh in deep criss-cross pattern with a sharp knife.
Arrange the two halves in an oven proof dish, or baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil, season with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt, sprinkle with dried oregano and cook for 40 minutes. Take out of the oven, add the chopped peppers to the dish alongside the squash and cook for a further 10 minutes.
Meanwhile Cook the quinoa according to the instructions with a vegetable stock cube to give it extra flavour (optional). Once cooked mix the quinoa with the rest of the ingredients, except the chives. Remove from the oven and carefully transfer the peppers to the stuffing mix. Stir together and spoon onto the butternut squash. Return to the oven for 10 mins. Sprinkle with the chopped chives and serve.