Our First Meal

We finally had our first official meal in the "new" house yesterday.  It was a bit of a celebration as final inspection was passed, so we can now reside here!  It is all the first real meal that I've cooked since moving here last Thursday.  Things have been so chaotic that food was grabbed here and there and little more than noodles and rice were cooked all last week.

For our meal I whipped up a lovely Chicken and Butternut Squash Stew.  I was inspired by this recipe, that had been lingering on my pinterest board for some time now.  I changed things up a bit, and I'll let you in on what I did.

Chicken and Butternut Squash Stew

1 butternut squash, skin and seeds removed, cubed

olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 large onion diced

3 boneless chicken breasts

chicken stock

1 cup quinoa

bay leaf

oregano

salt and pepper

chili powder

2 roma tomatoes, cubed

juice from 1 lime

handful of chopped cilantro

I sautéed the squash instead of steaming it, to give it a nice crisp outside (no one likes a mushy squash!).  I then added the oil, garlic and onion to a large pot and cooked until soft. I added the chicken broth, bay leaf, oregano, chili pepper and chicken breast and poached the chicken.

Once the chicken was cooked, I took it out, and shredded it using two forks.  I then added it to the stock, put in the uncooked quinoa and 1/2 of the squash that I had mashed and the tomatoes.  After the quinoa was cooked (you can tell because the grain looks like it has a little tail), I added the rest of the squash, unmashed, the lime juice and cilantro.  That's it!  Pretty easy and oh so good!  I think next time I'll make it a little more spicy!