Fall Chicken Stew with Quinoa and Butternut Squash

This “New American Heartland” fall chicken stew recipe is bulked up with quinoa and butternut squash. The dish is hearty and filling, and a perfect fall or winter dinner recipe.

When the cold weather sets in, I always want to make cozy, warm comfort food, but those are often not the most healthy recipes (i.e. beef stew, I love you forever, but you’re not healthy haha!). This seasonal dish is healthy, full of vegetables, protein and nutritious grains and it will warm you up from the inside out.

I’m making a loaf of easy herbed focaccia bread to dip in this scrumptious fall chicken stew!

What Do I Need to Make Fall Chicken Stew?

You’ve heard of kitchen sink cookies, and I seriously thought about naming this kitchen sink stew because you seriously add almost everything but the kitchen sink! Ha! But kitchen sink stew doesn’t sound appetizing at all. Here are the ingredients you will need:

• Chicken Broth
• Rotisserie Chicken: I like to use rotisserie chicken just to keep things quick and simple, but you can definitely cook your own chicken if you want. Grilled chicken breasts or left over roasted chicken would work great. I prefer to include for chicken breast and chicken thigh meat if I can for the most flavor.
• Vegetables and Herbs: Butternut Squash, Yellow Onion, Diced Tomatoes, Kale, and Flat-Leaf Parsley
• Flavor, Seasonings & Spices: Garlic, Kosher Salt, Dried Oregano, Ground Cumin, Nutmeg, Orange Zest and Black Pepper
• Grains: Quinoa (Trader Joe’s Harvest Grains Blend)
• Olive Oil

The measurements for all the ingredients can be found in the recipe card down below. Keep scrolling for all the details!

Substitutions and Variations

One of the things I love about stew recipes is how customizable they are! This recipe is perfect for adding to or swapping out. Here are a few ideas:

• You can add cubed potatoes (red potatoes or yukon gold) or sweet potatoes or swap them for the butternut squash.
• Use couscous or orzo instead of the quinoa.
• If you aren’t a kale fan, try spinach instead!
• Of course the veggies are totally up to you – peas, carrots, celery, etc.
• If you want to make this stew vegetarian, omit the chicken and use vegetable broth instead of chicken stock.

How to Make This Chicken Stew Recipe

To get the depth of flavor you crave in a good stew, it takes a couple of steps starting with r

Hi friends! Happy humpday! Looking for a booty workout? Check out this one; it’s one of my very faves. I hope you’re enjoying the week so far!

Spring Quinoa Salad with Artichokes, Feta, and Asparagus

When I first wrote this post, we had just gotten back from an awesome Vegas vacay. It was so good to get back into the swing of things and back in the routine of the girls’ classes and lessons, teaching fitness classes, and catching up on work stuff.  It also felt good to eat some home-cooked food! When we travel, I try to stick to one indulgent meal each day and go for my normal eats for the most part, but Vegas is a little different. It was easy for me to make healthy choices for breakfast, but you definitely have to take advantage of all of the fantastic entree and dessert options. 😉

I was also like, “I can’t wait to eat a vegetable when we get back” but then I looked in our fridge, it was pretty much empty, and I ended up eating coconut milk salted caramel ice cream for lunch. I guess I was still in Vegas mode. 😉 Once I was finally able to replenish the fridge, I created this little on-the-fly salad with some of the new grocery stash.

This salad is perfect for any upcoming spring parties or picnics, and includes two of the “great A’s”: artichokes and asparagus. It has fresh, flavorful, and bright lemon flavors from the lemon juice + zest, and since it’s quinoa-based, it’s sturdy enough to last a few days in the fridge so you can make it in advance! I made it as part of this week’s meal prep (along with some grilled chicken, amazeballs, and protein baked oatmeal) so I could easily eat it alone on top of salad greens or with grilled chicken or tuna for an easy lunch.

This salad is filling and satisfying, plus it’s gluten-free. Vegan friends can omit the feta cheese, or add in their favorite vegan cheese, for a vegan option

Plus it’s one of those, “toss everything in a bowl and forget about it” kinda recipes, which means I’m a fan.

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Mediterranean Quinoa Salad +Video

Bright Mediterranean flavors are packed into this fresh and healthy quinoa salad – spinach, tomato, cucumber, feta, red onion all tossed with fresh herbs and a sweet and tangy homemade dressing. It is a perfect summer salad!

Years ago we had a blogger lunch with all of the Utah food bloggers. There were only a few of us back then and it was simple to gather around a table to discuss life and business. There was a quinoa salad at one lunch that was fairly decent but lacked a little flavor.

This was my first introduction to quinoa so I blamed it on the grain. However, it felt fresh and nourishing so I’ve been playing with my own version ever since.

A friend of mine blew my mind by introducing me to Prosecco vinegar and it’s become not only the best quinoa salad but one of my favorite summer side salads period.

How to Make Quinoa Salad Video

What is Quinoa?

Quinoa is technically the seed of a plant, but it is classified as a whole grain. It is a great source of plant protein and fiber.

Ingredients for Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

Here is a brief overview of the ingredients you will need to make this tasty summer salad and the homemade salad dressing to go with it…

• Tri Color Quinoa: You can use any quinoa that you want. I just love the way this looks in the dish.
• Spinach: Grab some fresh spinach and chop it up! It adds great color, flavor and nutrients!
• Cucumber: We prefer English cucumbers so you don’t have to peel them and they are less seedy.
• Mung Beans: This is totally optional but I love the texture of beans in a salad and they are a great source of plant protein. We like Bob’s Red Mill brand.
• Grape Tomatoes: Slice them in half to make them easier

The Chocolate Quinoa Cake has the texture of a traditional cake, yet no special flours are required. This is pure, sweet Chocolate Cake.

This cake has blown my mind. Just writing about it here makes me grin as I think about how perfectly moist, rich, and chocolatey it is.

Quinoa Chocolate Cake

When I first saw this recipe, I did a double-take because I had never before run across anything quite like it. A flourless chocolate cake made with quinoa?

I first heard about a Quinoa Chocolate Cake over at Mel’s Kitchen Cafe almost 10 years ago. The recipe is originally from Quinoa 365 and even if you think you hate quinoa, my friends, this cake is going to change your mind. I say that without any doubt at all.

I make a Flourless Chocolate Cake at least a couple of times a year and it is one of my favorite recipes. The Chocolate Quinoa Cake, on the other hand, has the texture of a traditional cake, yet with no special flours required.

All you need is a couple of scoops of cooked quinoa. While I was initially very skeptical, I assure you that you absolutely positively can NOT taste the quinoa in this recipe.

Chocolate Quinoa Cake

This cake wowed both my family and our dinner guests who are accustomed to eating traditional sweets. Even knowing that the cake was made from quinoa, I couldn’t detect an odd taste or texture.

(And you know just how fussy I am about GF desserts and any odds textures or smells – some of those gluten-free flours are pretty bad!)

You don’t have to take my word for it either. There are dozens of 5 star reviews of this recipe at the bottom of this post.

This Quinoa Chocolate Cake has become a go-to dessert for many people who don’t normally cook or bake gluten-free, but enjoy being able to surprise friends with a gluten-free option without having to keep specialty flours and starches on hand.

This, my friends, is pure, sweet, and tender chocolate cake. After eating a slice the next day for breakfast, I sent the rest of it to the office with my husband. This is a very dangerous cake.

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