Butternut Squash and Bean Chili

I have a lot of squash in my fruit cellar, and while the hard squash will keep, it typically does not make it through the winter. So the plethora of butternut, acorn and hubbords I have must be used up. I went for something different than usual the other night. I prefer my squash savory, and in this house we all love chili, so I combined the two. I was also working on baking Christmas cookies all day, so this was a meal that I prepped and stuck in the crockpot.

1/4 cup olive oil
3 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, cleaned and chopped

1 green bell pepper, cleaned and chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
3 heaping tablespoons of chili powder
2 heaping tablespoons of cumin
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
2 cans, 15-oz, dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans, 15-oz, black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans, 14.5-oz, diced tomatoes (do not drain)

4 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced into 1" cubes

In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté the onions in the olive oil until they are tender, add garlic and continue to sauté until fragrant (about 1 minute). Add all the peppers and sauté for another 3-5 minutes or until tender. Just before removing from the heat, add the spices mixing and giving them just a minute to become fragrant. Transfer mixture to a 6 quart slow cooker. Add beans and tomatoes with their juice to the mixture. Arrange squash on top, (do not mix it in at this point) and cover.

Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6. When ready to eat, mix well with a spoon to incorporate squash into the mix.

North African Beef Stew; slow cooker recipe

This is what we had for dinner last night, I have been trying to use my crock pot more and more because of my lack of energy in the evenings.  Today marks my 37th week of this pregnancy, at this point baby is considered full term, and could pop out at any time.  Well, probably not for a while because my babies are stubborn little things.

I took it from my Better Homes and Gardens Simple Slow Cooker Recipes, and it turned out great.  I was fine with the directions at hand, and followed them for the most part.  It is designed to be served over a bed of couscous  (the small stuff), but alas my pantry was fresh out.

I did though have a bag of Lebanese Couscous, as you can see it is much larger than the couscous that most people are familiar with, it is larger than Israeli couscous as well.  It has more of a pasta type texture to it.  It worked, and I liked the results, I could also see how traditional couscous would work well absorbing a lot of the juices.

1.5 pounds of beef stew meat
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, halved lengthwise  
   and sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 medium onion, cut into wedges
1 cup water
1 beef bouillon cube
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
4 cloves garlic, mashed and minced
1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup dried apricots, quartered
hot cooked couscous


Cut the meat into 1" pieces.  Combine meat, sweet potatoes, and onion.  Stir in water, bouillon, cumin, cayenne pepper, cinnamon and garlic.

Cover and cook on low heat setting for 7.5-8.5 hours or on high heat setting for 3.5-4 hours.  Stir in tomatoes and dried apricots.  Cover and cook for 30 minutes more.

At this point I began toasting my couscous.  If you decide to go the route that I did, be sure to toast it first, you can also toast traditional small couscous, but be sure to check the directions 1st to not overdo it.

Melt a half of a stick of butter in a large sauté pan, when melted at 2 cups of Lebanese couscous.   It takes about 10 minutes to completely toast, shake the pan regularly during the time to be sure that it is evenly toasted.  When done add 4 cups of stock to the pan and bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat to a medium low, cook until done, about 20 minutes.

Serve stew over a bed of couscous.

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings

As some of you are aware, we are getting ready to have another baby, the 4th baby to be exact into our chaotic household.  I am going to blame this pregnancy on why I haven't been more active on this blog.  Sadly my heartburn has been atrocious and I haven't been able to make the flavor and spice that I normally do.  I made this recipe last week, it is adapted from my Better Homes and Gardens slow cooker cookbook.


2 cups chopped carrots
2 cups chopped potatoes (I used red, they hold up better, and I do not peel them)
1 peeled and chopped sweet potato
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried sage, crushed
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 clove garlic, minced
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts chopped into 1" cubes
1 14oz can chicken broth
1 can cream of celery soup (it is what I had on hand, and worked great)
1 Tbs cornstarch
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbs milk
2 Tbs butter, melted


Combine carrots, potatoes, sweet potato, bay leaves, sage, pepper, garlic and salt in slow cooker.  Add chicken pieces.  In a separate bowl combine chicken broth with soup, pour over mixture in crock pot.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.  If using low-heat setting, turn to high heat setting.  Stir mixture well, and remove bay leaves.  Combine cornstarch with 2 Tbs water, stir and add to chicken mixture, stir.  Return lid to crock while you mix the dumplings.

For dumplings, in a bowl stir together flour, cheese, cornmeal, baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt.  In a small bowl combine egg, milk and melted butter.  Add egg mixture to flour mixture; stir until just moistened.  Spoon batter into 8 mounds on top of chicken mix in the crockpot.  Cover and cook for 25-30 minutes more or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean from a dumpling.  IMPORTANT, do not remove the lid while the dumplings are cooking until at least a minimum of 25 minutes has passed.




We really like this, it will be slightly orange because the sweet potato will not hold up and will break down in the cooking process, but will be subtly there and scrumptious.

Curried Butternut Squash, Yam and Apple Soup

Sounds like a mouthful doesn't it! I must admit I wasn't able to taste this until I had some leftover for lunch today, and even still I didn't quite taste it in its glory.  I will take the enthusiasm of my husband and sons as proof enough that it tastes fabulous.  I have a cold, I can taste nothing.  But to me it was hot, thick and satisfying in my stomach.

This is a great crockpot recipe, and of course my favorite dish, SOUP!! I call yams "sweet potatoes", to me they are interchangeable vegetables, but to be accurate, I made sure to say "yam" in the title.


2 Tbs butter
2 cups of chopped onion
1 Tbs curry powder
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2lbs peeled, seeded and chopped into 1-2" cubes of butternut squash
1lb peeled and chopped into 1-2" cubes of sweet potatoes or yams
1lb peeled, cored and chopped apples
1/4 cup white rice (next time I am putting brown in)
6 cups of chicken stock
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper


Melt butter in a skillet and add onions.  Cook until onions are translucent, but not browned.  Sprinkle curry and ginger and mix well.  Sauté for another 5 minutes, or until fragrant, remove from heat and pour mixture into slow cooker.

Place squash, yams, apple and rice in slow cooker (in that order), pour chicken stock over mix and add salt and pepper (DO NOT STIR).  Cook on high for 1 hour, then reduce to low for 5 more hours.

Stir mixture and puree with a hand blender or blender until smooth.