Baked Acorn Squash with Cranberry-Orange Sauce

Harvest the colors of fall in this pretty side dish. It is a great replacement for heavier dishes like green beans or sweet potato casserole.

Recipe Ingredients:

Olive oil cooking spray
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon light olive oil
1 large acorn squash (about 1 1/2 pounds), quartered lengthwise, seeded and skin pierced with a fork in several places
1 to 2 tablespoons brown sugar substitute
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cooking Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
2. Lightly coat a 9-inch, deep-dish pie pan or baking dish with light olive oil cooking spray. In the pan, stir together cranberries, zest, juice, and light olive oil.
3. Place squash cut side down on top of cranberry mixture. Cover with foil and bake 45 minutes or until tender crisp when pierced with a fork. Turn each piece to other cut side down; bake uncovered 15 minutes or until squash is tender.
4. Remove squash and place on a serving plate. Add brown sugar substitute, salt, and vanilla to cranberry mixture; spoon equal amounts of mixture on each piece of squash.

Makes 4 servings.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (1/4 of recipe): Calories: 130; Total Fat: 4g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Total Carbs: 25g; Fiber: 5g; Protein: 1g; Sodium: 80mg.

Recipe courtesy of "The Heart-Smart Diabetes Kitchen: Fresh, Fast Flavorful Recipes" from the American Diabetes Association, copyright 2009. Photograph by Taran Z.@2009 from "The Heart-Smart Diabetes Kitchen."