Sometimes the best meals are made up on the spur of the moment. A couple of nights ago when we had the pasta with beet sauce from a previous post I made a little too much sauce.

This morning I used the excess sauce mixed with some goat cheese and ancini di pepe pasta to stuff an acorn squash and wound up with one of the most satisfying lunches I’ve had in a while. I’m guessing on the quantities, next time I make it I’ll pay more attention, but I’d say it was about half a cup of sauce, 2 ounces of goat cheese, and one and a half tablespoons of pasta (couscous would probably work too). Just cut the top off the squash, remove the seeds and strings, rub the inside with olive oil and season with salt, stuff it with the beet mixture, put the top back on, set the squash in a baking pan and cook it in the Sun Oven until tender.

It makes a more than generous lunch for one.

A few months ago, as I was watching the episode of ‘Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives’ that featured these beet sliders, I, along with every other Weight Watcher member out there, thought to myself, “Zero point sliders! I want the recipe!”. Within hours people were on the WW forums asking about it, and now the good folks over at the Food Network have posted it on their website. Of course, as we all know, when something is too good to be true it probably is; these sliders, once you add the bun, the dressing, and the cooking oil, are not exactly zero points. They are, however, extremely tasty.

The recipe, which can be found here, called for six to eight beets, I only used two so I cut back on the other ingredients accordingly and used a smaller pot. If you choose to make a full batch, you’ll need to remove the leveling tray from the GSO’s cooking chamber to make room for a large stock pot. To cook the beets in the GSO I combined all the ingredients in a pot and placed it in the cooking chamber without bring the water first to a boil. After the beets are cooked and cooled they are peeled and sliced, and then sauteed in a frying pan on the stove. I confess, I didn’t make the dressing from the original recipe. I’m sure it’s very good, but I like easy so I used one from a bottle. I was surprised at how good they were. They will definitely make frequent appearances at our dinner table.