comment icon 64 more comments You guys, I adore squash. How is it even a vegetable? It’s creamy. None of this watery crunchy vegetable stuff. This is smooth velvety yellow veggie seduction. Annnnd as if this hot squash topic couldn’t already get more controversial, this just in: I now eat the squash skin. Yes, it’s true. I’m becoming one of THOSE people. eyes get wide But there is just nothing that I can’t love about those bright yellow and green squash halves, loaded with spiced red quinoa, black beans, cheddar cheese, and roasted corn… (not done yet)… topped with green onions for a kick and crema and queso fresco for a creamy finish. Ahhhh. This is what healthy food should taste like. You are still fixated on the weirdness of the skin, aren’t you? Okay okay okay. I just crossed over like, yesterday, so I completely get it and I’m sorry for being a tiny bit weird. But the good news is that you don’t have to eat the skin to love this recipe. Hello? Cute little bowl of healthy Mexican that can be scooped out with a spoon? I think so. And for you squash haters who continue to read through my squash recipe posts even though you wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole (I don’t get you, but you’re sweet for still reading): this roasted corn and red quinoa and black bean and cheddar cheese filling is enough to get you happy dancing around your kitchen with the clock strikes dinnertime, with or without the squash. Not endorsing, just saying. I would like to take a quick nanosecond to give a shout out to coworker who gifted me the squash (yes you, Lori). I promised her that I would put them in my fridge and do something fun with them when we came back from Montana, and I never break a squash promise. Except I promised to bring whatever I made to work, and that’s going to be a little difficult being that these quinoa stuffed squash are all, umm, eaten. But is gifted food the best or what? Especially seasonal produce. If you have some spare produce laying around looking for a good home, I’m now accepting. F-Y-I. In the spirit of full disclosure, there’s something you should know. I’ve never been able to fully commit to the quinoa movement. I just have never really liked it that much. Blasphemy, yes. For this recipe I’m using red quinoa, and I don’t know what’s going on but something about the red color makes this quinoa just… better. Which is actually weird because as I’m reading about it now, I’m finding out that red quinoa has more of that earthy flavor which is what I thought I didn’t like. I obviously have a really refined palate. I had seen an episode with Guy Fieri on the Food Network sometime during our Montana road trip where he was making some kind of stuffed peppers with red quinoa, and I thought to myself, I need to get me somma that red quinoa A-sap. Primarily because it looks more like ground meat and it makes a better color contrast for my pictures. And just like that, I liked it. Moral of the story: let’s not get carried away, but sometimes quinoa is good. Sometimes. Time to talk peel. Or skin. The outer squash layer that is green, unknown, and scary. I decided to just go for it. I had seen an old tutorial from Kath Eats Real Food where she said she eats the squash skin, and she’s Kath, and she eats real food, so…obviously it’s the right thing to do. I was really surprised about a few things: Time to go steal the squash out of your neighbor’s garden. Happy eating!
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of best healthy vegetarian recipes. Check it out! 5 from 8 reviews
