Pumpkin Stuffed with Herbed Apple Couscous

🧂 Ingredients

• 4 small baking pumpkins

  about 1 lb, hollowed and seeded
• medium onion

  chopped
• 1 clove garlic

  minced
• 1 cup celery

  chopped
• 1/2 cup apple

  chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme

  dried
• ¼ cup minced sage
• 2 cups cooked couscous

  cook with chicken stock
• 1/2 cup walnuts

  toasted and chopped
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon salt

  plus more to taste
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

  plus more to taste

Instructions

• 1 Hollow out pumpkins and remove seeds. Drizzle the inside of each pumpkin shell
  with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes while
  making the couscous. Remove from the oven and reduce the temperature to 350
  degrees.
• 2 Cook the couscous, in chicken stock, according to package instructions to yield
  2 cups cooked couscous. Cooking with chicken stock instead of water adds
  wonderful flavor. Set aside.
• 3 Heat a skillet with 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion,
  garlic, celery, and apple. Saute until tender, then stir in thyme, minced sage,
  and maple syrup.
• 4 Stir the cooked couscous into the apple onion mixture in the skillet. Stir in
  the toasted walnuts and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• 5 Evenly fill the partially cooked pumpkins with the stuffing mixture and place it
  in a shallow baking dish or parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with aluminum
  foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes
  more, or until the pumpkin is fork-tender but still retains its shape. Serve
  immediately.

Nutrition Info