This is one of my all-time favorite recipes to make. It’s a powerhouse of nutrition for radiant health and can be prepared for essentially effortless eating. The squash & pears are loaded with vitamins, minerals, and fiber, while the quinoa is a complete protein. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do at our house.
Ingredients
1 kabocha squash
Olive oil
2 pears
Cinnamon
1 cup dry quinoa
Sour cream
Directions
Squash:
Step 1. Preheat the oven to 400°.
Step 2. Scrub the kabocha squash clean under warm water.
Step 3. Cut squash in half and scoop out the seeds & pulp.
Step 4. Brush each half with olive oil.
Step 5. Peel & cut pears into 1-inch cubes. Fill the squash halves with the pears and sprinkle them with cinnamon.
Step 6. Place squash on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for easy cleanup. Cover each half of the squash with aluminum foil and bake for 60 minutes. Check with a fork to see if the center and sides of the squash are soft. If not, bake in 10-minute intervals until it’s as done as you’d like.
While the squash is baking, you can cook the quinoa.
Quinoa:
Step 7. Boil 1 ½ cups water in a medium pot.
Step 8. Add 1 cup of quinoa. Cover & simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.
Step 9. Remove from heat & let stand covered for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
Notes
You can use any type of squash you like for this recipe. I use kabocha because it’s slightly dryer and doesn’t have a stringy texture like other types of squash, making it easier to eat/swallow.
I use organic TruRoots sprouted quinoa for this recipe. Cooking it for the recommended 15 minutes works fine for me. If you use a different quinoa, follow the directions on the package. You might need to cook it longer to make it softer and easier to eat. Some brands of quinoa require rinsing before cooking, so be sure to check the directions on your package.
I have tried using apples instead of pears in this recipe; however, they don’t get soft enough to eat easily. Even precooking them didn’t work because then they got tough after baking. The pears get soft and almost melt into the squash, adding a nice sweet flavor and no extra effort to eat.
I try to work smarter, not harder when it comes to eating, so I mix my portion of the squash, pears, quinoa, and sour cream together & sprinkle it with cinnamon. It forms a nice mashed potato-type texture that is easy to eat, and you don’t notice the quinoa is there. It’s effortless eating with lots of nutrition.
