Roasted Acorn Squash Glow Bowl

Happy New year you guys! What a whirlwind of a year 2018 was, I achieved so much and left the year feeling orgainsed and proud of myself. If you read the blog back in December, you will know that I decided to go Pescatarian. A conscious decision after reading the book 'Eating Animals, Should we Stop?'. So from now on, the blog will only contain recipes with fish or that are completely vegetarian. This will exclude recipes from The Little Cooker, as Evie still eats meat. I hope you will still be able to find recipes you adore and I will point out where I can where you could add/substitute fish for meat.

This Acorn Squash Glow Bowl is a combination of foods that I have been eating a lot of recently. Garlicky kale is something that I have been consuming in abundance. So crazy that I refused to eat kale for years and never got the hype, turns out it is delicious. You can swap and change any of the elements in this bowl, it's easy going like that. The main components to keep are the beautiful, nutty and sweet acorn squash and the quinoa. It would make a great prep ahead lunch for work, especially if you roasted the whole squash and kept it in the fridge. Halloumi would also be a divine edition.

Serves: 2Prep time: 10 minsCook time: 35 mins

 Ingredients

• 1 small acorn squash, de-seeded and sliced
• 2 spring onions
• Handful of mixed cherry tomatoes
• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 small carrot, grated
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 80g quinoa
• 1 litre of vegetable stock
• Bunch of curly kale
• Bunch of spinach
• Pinch of cayenne, cumin, chilli flakes, thyme and salt
• 40g pine nuts
• Good helping of Parmesan cheese
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges
• Fresh basil
• Olive oil

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 200c.
2. De-seed and section squash, add to a baking tray and sprinkle on pinch of each spice and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Toss to coat. Chop top off of garlic bulb, add to baking tray and drizzle with oil. Cook for 35 mins on the middle shelf.
3. Chop spring onions, tomatoes, and smash avocado. Set aside.
4. Add quinoa to a small pan and top with 1 litre of vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and then turn to a simmer and cook for 16 mins. Drain and set aside.
5. Once squash is done, remove from oven and set aside. Remove garlic by squeezing from skin, add cloves to a frying pan with kale, spinach, pine nuts and 1 tbsp olive oil. Cook for around 3-4 minutes until kale has softened but is still a lovely green.
6. Assemble your bowl however you wish and sprinkle with Parmesan.

Any leftover squash will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.