sausage and quinoa stuffed acorn squash

This past Thursday was such an excited day for the LaFuze's...we got our first CSA box!!!  I am a proponent for organic product but the Mr. doesn't always agree with the cost.  Some friends of ours have mentioned that they joined a CSA and love that they get great, seasonal, organic produce straight from the farm.  The Mr. loved this idea, but more importantly he loved the price.  

The beautiful thing about it is you never really know what you are going to get.  Our first box contained apples, oranges, grapefruit, persimmons, eggplant, golden beats, acorn squash, rosemary, red leaf lettuce, collard greens, romaine, parsley, and something I can't quick figure out still.  We are splitting our boxes with another friend of ours, which gives us the perfect amount of produce for the week.  At first I was worried about cooking with the ingredients, but now I've accepted it as a challenge.  I can't wait to try out some new recipes using ingredients I wouldn't normally buy at the market.  

The first piece of produce I chose to cook this week was acorn squash.  

Just the fact that it was squash sent my swooning away (squash and myself have a beautiful relationship).  

I've never cooked with it before so I searched for the perfect recipe.  Well, I decided to take two recipes and turn it into my own.  

One recipe was strictly vegetarian, and since the Mr. was already going out on a limb and eating acorn squash I decided to give him some meat.  

Italian sausage that is...

Add in some onion, chives, parsley, pistachios, and parmesan, and you have yourself one heck of a meal! 

 (The original recipe called for 4 acorn squashes, but I only had one, so we just have a lot of stuffing left over.)

Ingredients:
4 small acorn squashes, halved and seeds removes
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 c. quinoa
8 oz. sweet italian sausage
1 c. finely chopped onion
1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley
1/2 c. roasted pistachios, chopped
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives
1 oz. Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Brush olive oil over cut squash, sprinkle with salt and pepper and place cut-side down in a baking dish.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.
3. Cook quinoa in 2 cups of water. (Add quinoa and water into a pan, cover, and cook for 15 minutes, fluff with a fork.)
4. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a pan over medium heat.  Cook the italian sausage.
5. Remove sausage and place on a plate with paper towels to soak up with oil.
6. Add onion to the pan and cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, until onion is softened.  Add parsley and chives and cook an additional 2 minutes.
7. Add the cooked quinoa and pistachios to the onion mixture, sprinkle with parmesan and stir together.
8. Spoon mixture into each squash and broil for 5 minutes.