Stuffed Butternut Squash

I made this for my office slow-cooker cook-a-thon. A melon baller made it quite easy to carve a cavity for the stuffing in the squash.

This recipe fits on a 6-quart slow cooker

1 small butternut squash
1 5-oz bag dried apple slices
1 large onion, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 cup cooked short grain brown rice
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup cooked sliced mushrooms
1 cup cooked cannellini beans
1 tablespoon chopped sage
1/4 cup vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste

1- Grease the insert of the slow cooker with some cooking spray or oil.

2- Cut the squash in half legthwise, then cut each half in half (right where the seeds are, so that 2 of the quarters are have all the seeds).

3- On the quarters that have the seeds: Remove the seeds and discard (or save for roasting).

4- On the quarters that do not have the seeds: Carve out some of the squash flesh so that the piece of squash can hold the stuffing. I scooped out about 1" in width and about half the height of the squash. Transfer the flesh balls that were scooped out into the slow cooker insert.

5- Add the apples, onions, and 2 tablespoons of oil to the squash pieces in the insert. Toss well and season with salt and pepper.

6- In a large bowl, combine the rice, cranberries, mushrooms, sage, and beans. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Scoop the stuffing into the squash cavities.

7- Arrange the squash pieces skin side down inside the slow cooker insert on top of the apple mixture. Drizzle the remaining oil on top of the squash.

8- If the cooker has a warm setting, cook on low for 3 hours then let sit in "warm" for another 5 hours. Otherwise, cook on low for 4 hours, or until the squash is fork tender. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes, then serve.