Home Cookin' Away from Home

In these past few weeks, it's been hard to find time to relax. The stresses of junior year seem to be at full tilt. Luckily one of my roommates is also fond of cooking, so last night we set aside some time to do something for ourselves. A hardy and filling meal can go a long way during a long week of classes riddled with exams and other stressors.

Last week we bought carnival squash at the market. The man at the vegetable stand told us that carnival squash is an even sweeter variety than acorn squash, so we were eager to try it. My mom always bakes acorn squash with butter and brown sugar, and it's one of my favorite winter veggies. This time, however, I decided that wasn't enough. I searched the internet for a carnival squash recipe, and found something better than I could have ever hoped for. Instead of having squash as a side dish, we turned it into an entire meal by making chicken stuffed carnival squash.

The entire cooking process turned out to be a bit lengthier than anticipated. This was mainly because the squash took twice as long to cook than expected. We also needed to poach the chicken for this recipe, which is a new culinary skill I can now add to my cooking resume. The dinner was a true labor of love, and it all became worth it when we each had that first bite of chicken stuffed deliciousness. Even after having seconds, we still had leftovers, which is one of the best things a college kid could ask for.

Disclaimer: For this recipe, we baked three carnival squash, and tripled the amount of chicken. That's how we got those tasty left overs

Plenty to go around