Stuffed Acorn Squash

What a day it’s been. After two weeks away from Weight Watchers, I bit the bullet and took the plunge and went back to weigh in. I was up 2.6 pounds. Since I knew I was going to have a gain this week, I decided it would be a good week to wear my “winter-weigh-in-clothes”. For anyone who has been to Weight Watchers, you know how much care is taken into wearing the perfect outfit to weigh in. Any change in the clothing from week to week can alter our real weight….right? 🙂

This week we talked about Thanksgiving and we were given a photo of a plate on a piece of paper. We had to draw (or write) the items down that we normally put on our plate on Thanksgiving and then we had to guess how many Weight Watcher Points Plus are in each item. My normal Thanksgiving plate consists of 3 oz of Turkey (white/skinless), 1 cup of mashed potatoes, 1/2 cup of corn, 1/2 cup of Stove Top stuffing and a bit of gravy on my turkey (I’ve estimated that to be around 1/4 cup). The biggest kicker was my slice of pumpkin pie. 1/8 of a pie is 13 points plus. 13! That is a crazy number. I’m reconsidering that slice this year. I’m on a hunt to find out how many points are in just the pie filling itself. I know that most of the points are associated with the pie crust and I don’t really care if I eat that part of the pie. Right now, I’m at 17 total points without the pie. Not too bad for a special occasion. My challenge is that we’re invited to two Thanksgiving feasts – one at noon and another one at 3pm. Planning will be the key to staying on track and within my daily pointsplus allowance (which is 39 points).

What are your must haves for Thanksgiving? No matter what you will eat it and suck up the PointsPlus?

Tonight I made Stuffed Acorn Squash for dinner. I think I’m in love with Acorn Squash this year – actually all squashes. Butternut was my squash of the month last month. Then if you add Smoked Gouda to it…..oh it just brings it to another whole level. I love topping anything that I stuff with Smoked Gouda cheese. Yum!

7 Weight Watcher PointsPlus

Ingredients:

2 Acorn Squash

2 cups Black Rice, cooked

1 cup leeks, sliced (about 2 leeks)

3 celery stalks, sliced

1 tsp poultry seasoning

1/2 tsp sage

4oz Smoked Gouda, shredded (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut acorn squash in half and place upside down on a baking sheet (make sure you remove the seeds inside the squash first). Add enough water to bring the level to 1/2″ in the pan. Bake for 25 minutes.

While the squash is baking, saute the leeks and celery in a pan with about 2T of water until they soften. Add in the sage and poultry seasoning and mix well. Add the rice and mix until well combined.

Fill each squash with the rice mixture and place back in the oven, covered with foil, for 20 minutes.

Optional, top with shredded cheese and place back in oven for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

If you choose not to top the squash with the cheese, subtract 2 PP, bringing the total PP for one serving to 5PP.