One Pot Wednesdays: Curried Butternut Squash Quinoa with Garbanzo beans

Recently I've been getting into curry for several reasons.

One, they make everything taste different. You can add curry spices to your same-old, same-old stir fry or chicken dish and make it taste exotic and new without doing anything much different.

Another reason is it's easy to customize it. You can make it creamy or coconut-y by adding coconut milk; you can do a green, yellow or red curry, spicing it up and down as you please.

And there are so many different curry recipes out there! From Korean to Thai to Indian and more, curry is a versatile and delicious way to spice up dinner no matter what cuisine you feel like cooking.

I also like it because the curry spices themselves are so nutritious and medicinal.

Take turmeric, for example (the main spice in any curry, and what gives it that unique taste and bright yellow color).

Turmeric may be the all-time winner of most-studied spice, with thousands of research studies done, and impressive findings: from anti-inflammatory response to preventing or even curing cancer, this spice is like a miracle cure!

And with its pleasant taste, aroma and color, there's really no reason not to add it to everything you cook.

So hurry up and get your curry on. Try this great one pot curried butternut squash quinoa today!

     

Ingredients:

• 1 c quinoa, rinsed well (otherwise it will be bitter)
• 1 c broth
• 1 lb butternut squash, cubed
• 1 lb bell peppers, sliced
• 1 lb garbanzo beans, cooked and drained
• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 1 t curry powder
• 1 t ground ginger
• 1 t ground turmeric
• 1/2 t ground cardamom
• 1 cup coconut milk (and not “light” Coconut fat rocks. Go big or go home)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 T lemon juice

• 2 T minced fresh parsley (garnish)

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients except lemon juice and parsley into the clay pot
2. Close, seal and cook on “white rice” setting
3. After it beeps, don't open and let it sit on warm for 10-15 minutes
4. Stir in the lemon juice and serve with parsley for garnish