squachili (squash bowl chili)

Sometimes when I post pictures of a recipe of mine, and I think it looks absolutely incredible, I think I am biased. From all of your responses on my cran-apple pancakes, I am glad that I’m not a crazy fool who thinks her food looks pretty. It was pretty unanimous!

I got home really late last night — I went to the Mercy Me concert with my mom and a few friends last night. Usually I’m in bed by the time the band rolled onto the stage. I won’t lie, my head was bobbing a few times, but it’s not because it was groovin’ to the tunes. I found an extra wave of energy when I got home though (of course) and was awake until about 12:30. That’s about 3 hours into my usual beauty rest, mind you.

Without fail, I wake up at 6:00 or 6:30 every morning on the weekends without an alarm. Regardless of what time I went to bed, I’m up and at ‘em!

I kind of wanted overnight oats this morning — which proved to be a problem when I opened my fridge and found nothing waiting for me. Whoops — looks like it was a hot oat morning for me!

This bowl was topped with Artisana’s Cashew butter. It had a really nice flavor, but was really sticky! I’m not sure why. Either way, I gobbled it up. There has never been a nut butter I didn’t like.

Yesterday, I started prepping for today’s “dinner” (cringe) — I think I have mentioned before how I wanted to experiment with buying dry beans instead of canned beans. So, I bought a bag of black beans and into a pot they went to soak overnight! This morning, I cooked them on the stove for about an hour until they were tender. I also have a fantastic black ring around one of my burners due to an overflowing pot of black water (from the beans). I think I’ll let the husband tackle that one.

Anyways, one bag of beans makes  A LOT of beans — I currently have 6 cups of them chilling in my freezer for later use. I am thinking of possibilities as I type this.

Today’s “dinner” wasn’t thought up of all on my own — I cannot lie. I took Emily’s idea of black bean chili in a pumpkin and made my own black bean chili recipe in a acorn squash!

While we were eating dinner, the husband and I were trying to think of what to call this recipe. I started with: Black Bean Chili in an Acorn Squash Bowl.

He thought that was too long — I agreed. He then suggested Chili Squash.

I didn’t like that.

The Husband then suggested Squachili (pronounced squa-sheeeeley). I laughed and told him that is what I would call it.

Unfortunately, it has a second name as well: Squash Bowl Chili

*Insert any of the above names for the recipe title here*

• 2 acorn squash, tops cut off and insides scooped out
• 4 cups black beans
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 orange pepper, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• salt, pepper, garlic, cumin, chili powder, and crushed red pepper to taste

This morning before church, I cooked my black beans which had been soaking all night. I honestly threw the rest of the ingredients in a crock pot and set it to low so the chili would have time to cook while we were gone.

When we got home from church, I adjusted the spices, and got to work on my squash bowls.

I cut the tops off of the acorn squash first.

Then I scooped all the fleshiness out of the squash.

I let the squash hang out in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. When the 30 minutes were up, I scooped my black bean chili into the squashes (make sure they’re in a pan just in case you have some leakage) and put them back into the oven for another 30 minutes.

The result? Perfectly roasted squash and chili.

I never thought I would see a day where the Husband would literally scrape an acorn squash clean.

Okay, in reality.. that one is mine — but he was still working on his. I could not get over how good this was. I say that a lot, don’t I?

I now have a zillion pounds of black bean chili and black beans left — at least we’ll be getting our fiber!

Question: What should I make with all my leftover black beans?

PS — I am going to a wedding tonight, but I am preparing a “How I prep for the week” post for you all!

Tagged as: acorn squash, black bean chili, cashew butter, pumpkin, pumpkin oats, squash, squash bowl chili