Slow Cooker Moroccan Butternut Squash & Chickpea Stew

I haven’t used my slow cooker in a while so I’m super happy to have another crockpot recipe on my blog! The reason for this one is that I’m staying at my mum’s at the moment; and we had some butternut squash lying around but didn’t know what to do with it. Neither of us have really used it much before, in fact she doesn’t think she ever has, and I have only used it a couple of times before in a root veg mash, or had shop-bought ‘boodles’. Anyway, it’s a great ingredient for adding substance to a meal without making it too starchy. It’s lighter than sweet potato but kind of similar.

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This recipe is sooooo easy it’s ridiculous. A ‘method’ section isn’t even required, as it’s basically just “put everything in a slow cooker and turn it on.” The garnishes of greek yogurt and rocket  respectively add a freshness and zing to this warm and comforting meal.

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Ingredients:

  • 1 medium white onion, chopped
  • garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces
  • 1 red pepper, chopped
  • 3/4 cup red lentils
  • 1 x 400g drained and rinsed
  • 400g passata
  • 1 heaped tsp freshly grated ginger
  • 1 heaped tsp turmeric
  • 1 heaped tsp cumin
  • 2 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp hot chilli powder
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 3 cups vegetable stock
  • Brown rice

Garnish:

  • Greek yogurt
  • Rocket

Method:

Literally add everything except the rice to a slow cooker (no need to brown anything first), stir, turn on to high for 4 hours or low for 6-7 hours. Remove the lid for the last hour to thicken the sauce.

Sever with brown rice and garnishes.

Diet* Update!

If you’ve been following my blog for a while you may know that in April 2015 I decided to try a pescatarian diet for a while to see how it went. I love fish and wanted to cut out the fat you can find in some meat (i.e. burgers, bacon, sausages etc) and I also was keen to know if the claims of increased energy levels when cutting out meat were true.

It’s now February 2016 and I’ve been doing the pescatarian thing for nearly a year. I’m not sure about increased energy levels, I feel generally the same, but I can report that it has been a lot easier to maintain a healthy body weight (without even trying). Although it’s been a good journey and I’ve discovered a lot of new pescatarian and vegetarian dishes, I’ve now decided I’m ready for a change. Especially as annoyingly, I’ve also developed an intolerance to prawns 😦

So I decided it would be a fun idea to try out a new diet every few months and post recipes from that particular diet. I don’t believe any one diet is the ‘holy grail’ of diets and that other diets are wrong, so I thought I’d trial all (or as many as I can) of them to prove that you can make any diet (within reason!) work for you and show you how to make tasty and satisfying meals for any one of them! I’ll also be sure to report any changes in my body, weight or energy levels on any of the diets so you can decide which one/s might work for you.

Since it seems to be the most popular one around at the moment and everyone is swearing by it, the second diet I’m going to try is Paleo – from today! So stay tuned for exciting Paleo recipes and my thoughts/experiences on the diet as I go along.

Until the next post 🙂 xx

*When using the word ‘diet’ I mean ‘kinds of food I’m eating’. I’m not attempting to lose weight.