Stuffed squash with tex mex rice and beans

We are almost halfway through Vegan MoFo.  How are you finding it?  I confess that I have less energy for it than previous years.  Less energy to visit other Vegan MoFo blogs, to comment and engage.  Less time for my new Green Gourmet Giraffe Facebook page.  Less time for visiting the blogs I visit regularly.  And between you and me, I don't think I would even be getting up so many posts if I hadn't prepared ahead so much.

I had known it would be a busy month with three weekends out of town.  I just hadn't counted on the stolen car really turning it into a horror month.  We now find ourselves in the position of trying to find a new car so that we can go away on holiday at the end of the month.  (And I hope there are no thieves reading this and deciding to find out house and break in while we are away .  I couldn't bear it!)

But when you see these cute little squashes you will know that I shouldn't really complain.  After all I am lucky to be able to go to our local farmers market and buy such cuties.  I couldn't resist.  And while I probably should have been talking to the farmer about where they were grown and what variety of squash they are, instead I was asking how to make them sit up straight and  been told that maybe I would like square squashes like those square watermelons in Japan.

It was a shock to me when I started food blogging to discover just how narrow the definition of pumpkin is outside Australia.  What we call pumpkin is often called squash elsewhere.  Those funny orange halloween pumpkins from America are rarely seen here though the imports are now seen in the shops each October.  I have always thought that "pumpkins" (eg Butternut Pumpkin, Queensland Blue and Jap Pumpkins which are similar to kabocha) have lovely orange flavoursome flesh whereas squash has pale bland flavourless flesh.  These little squash definitely were quite bland and stringy.

Truth be told the squashes were all about style and elegance rather than taste.  I wasn't so keen on eating the stringy flesh but I loved the filling.  Fortunately I had so much filling that I baked the leftovers in a casserole dish.  It served as handy leftovers for E when I was out to dinner with a friend.  You might notice in the above photo that I used biocheese in it.  I love that stuff.  So yummy and melty.

In case you are wondering about how I made them sit nicely, I took out the stem and was able to sit them on their heads so the peaked bottoms were at the top like little pixie hats.  So cute. Perhaps this might explain why Sylvia felt the need to surround it with her little and tiny things while I took some photos the next morning.

I am sending this to Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary for her Shop Local blog event, that celebrates bloggers cooking with locally sourced food.  The squash and leek came from the farmers market and the lemon from our backyard.

More stuffed recipes from Green Gourmet Giraffe: 

• Mediterranean stuffed peppers 
• Pumpkin stuffed with hominy and tomatillo stew 
• Smoky lime peanut baked sweet potatoes
• Stuffed peppers with white beans and kale 
• Tomatoes stuffed with guacamole

Squash Stuffed with Tex Mex rice and beans
An original Green Gourmet Giraffe recipe
Serves 4-6

2-3 small squash
Slurp of olive oil
1 large leek, washed and chopped
2 cups brown basmati rice, cooked
2 tbsp chipotle sauce
100g vegan cheese, grated
400g tin corn kernels, rinsed and drained
400g tin black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tsp lemon juice

Bake squash for about 1-2 hours at 180 C until they feel soft.  Chop off the top and scrape out seeds.

Fry the leek for about 10-15 minutes until soft.  Mix with the remaining ingredients and taste to check seasoning.

Stuff as much stuffing as possible into the squash and bake for about 1 hour at 180 C.  If you have remaining filling, bake in a greased oven dish until top is crispy - possibly a bit less time then stuffed squash.

On the Stereo:
Together Through Life: Bob Dylan

This post is part of Vegan Month of Food September 2014.  This year for Vegan MoFo my theme is The Letter S.  Today is S for Smoky Fridays.  Go to my Vegan MoFo list for more of my 2014 Vegan MoFo posts.