Stuffed Roasted Butternut Squash

I'm not a big meat fan so I get my choice on Meatless Mondays. This butternut squash has a Mexican twist stuffed with rice, black beans, shoepeg corn, cilantro, red bell pepper, tomatoes, a scoop of salsa and cheddar cheese.  Mr. B loves his with smashed avocado and sour cream. Again I say use your imagination to make it to your taste. He said he would like it with some tortilla chips but that kind of takes away a little from this being a healthy dish but whatever you like, go for it. Serves 4.

Ingredients:

two medium size butternut squash (update: I'm finding that I'm have filling left so you may want to 

       save it or bake one more squash, making it 3, to fill)

1 tablespoon melted butter 

1 cup dry rice  (I used Minute rice.)

1 cup chicken broth or stock

1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 can shoe peg corn (drained)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

two chopped Roma tomatoes

1/4 red bell pepper, chopped

a scoop of your favorite salsa

1/2 cup cheddar cheese plus a little for sprinkling on top

salt and pepper as desired

avocado

sour cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Wash squash and cut in half. Scoop out the seeds. Melt butter and brush it on the cut halves.

Put a cup or so water on a sheet pan with sides and place the squash halves face down. Roast in oven for 50-60 minutes until fork tender. Be careful not to burn squash as water will evaporate. 

This is when you make the filling mixture. Make the rice first and use chicken broth instead of water. Then set cooked rice aside.

Mix all the other filling ingredients, drained beans, corn, cilantro, tomatoes, red bell pepper, salsa, cheddar cheese, then add the rice. Mix completely

Take squash out of oven and turn it face up. Scoop some of the squash out of the thick end so you have more room for your filling and it will be even in the squash. You can save the extra squash for muffins, cookies or soup. Top each half with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese and put back in the oven for 15 minutes.

Top with avocado and sour cream if desired.