My Kitchen | Hearty Fall Stew

The perfect fall dinner in my mind is something warm and hearty! I had been craving this stew since September when I first felt the weather change! I was finally able to make it last week and thought I had to share it because it's so darn good! I found the recipe on Pinterest but I tweeked it, like I do most recipes. I also have a much easier way of cooking the squash than the original recipe! I think so anyway. Unless someone knows how to peel and dice an un-cooked squash easily...Here is my version!

Hearty Fall Stew
Ingrediants:
1 1/2 lb. Acorn squash, seeded & cut into 1/8th 
4 cups chicken broth
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs 
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1 Red pepper chopped
1 Zucchini chopped and/or summer squash chopped
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 pinch of nutmeg
1 pinch of ground cloves
1 can (14 oz) fire roasted diced tomatoes
1/3 cup uncooked quinoa 
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Cut the squash in half remove the seeds and cut each half into quaters. Bring the chicken broth to a simmer and add the cut squash, cover letting it cook until tender but still firm. Remove four of the pieces of squash and cook the remaining squash until they are well done. Once the squash is done cooking and cooled scoop it out of the skin and dice the firm squash into cubes, and smash the well done squash into a puree.

2. Add your chicken to the chicken broth  cover and let cook through, about 15min. Remove the chicken and sest aside to cool. After they have cooled shred them with a fork or your fingers.

3. While the chicken is cooking. In a saute pan saute your onion, peppers, and other veggies if you desire in olive oil. Add salt to the saute pan. After they have cooked through add your garlic, oregano, nutmeg, cloves, until fragrent, add tomatoes and pureed squash to the pan.

4. When the chicken is done add the quinoa to the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and let cook for about 5 to 10 min. Add the sauted veggies, let the quinoa finish cooking it will be tranlucet. Add diced squash, and chicken to the pot. Season with salt and pepper to taste. I let it cook for a while with all of the ingrediants together, so the flavors come together.

This stew with some homemade french bread (that I posted a couple weeks ago) is soooo good on a cool fall day!

Enjoy!

~ Rachel