Curried Chickpea Stew

With fall arriving, I have this urge to delve into comfort-food recipes and have been making soups,stews, and casseroles galore. This recipe originally came from a friend, and got morphed with a soup I tried at a restaurant last week and wanted to replicate. The result is belly-warming deliciousness. My dad would disagree, two of the foods he hates the most are yams and curry lol....this is the Anti-Dad Stew I guess! I've never been a big fan of curry myself, until recent years when I realized there are all sorts of different curries...I actually do like most of them.
I wanted to have red lentils in this stew to thicken it, but when I went to the pantry I discovered I was out...so curry, meet quinoa. A nutritious alternative that worked quite well, I believe, but red lentils would be super too.

Curried Chickpea Stew
2 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp minced ginger
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 cup diced tomatoes
4 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable stock
1 yam, peeled and cut into 1” cubes (about 2 cups)
1 large carrot, diced
1/3 cup quinoa or red lentils
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Pepper to taste
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Directions
In a Dutch oven or large pot, heat oil and add onion, garlic, and ginger and sauté on medium heat until onion is translucent., about 10 min.
Add stock, yam, tomatoes, and curry powder. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer, with lid offset, for one hour.
Add carrot and quinoa. Simmer for 30 more minutes.
Add chick peas and simmer for 40 minutes. Stir in cilantro and add pepper to taste.

Crockpot directions:
Combine all ingredients except cilantro in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low setting for 8 hours. Season the stew with pepper and stir in cilantro.

Nutritional Information per serving: 248 calories, 3.7g fat, 10.2g protein, 42.8g carbs, 7.6g fibre, 552mg sodium.

Pumpkin Oat Maple Muffins

A friend and I were talking muffins a few weeks ago, and I asked her to share a recipe she had found for for Pumpkin Oat muffins. They sounded so delicious, and despite having never made this recipe before, I threw caution to the wind and made my own modifications on the first run. Ha! I am such a rebel. I am currently basking in the glory of muffin success, gloating over my incredible muffin skillz, and soaking up the muffin love from coworkers. Hey take it while you can get it eh! Tomorrow might bring some horrible mashed potato mishap or grilling disaster.

I admit I had to borrow this picture, as I did not have time to take one before the muffins were inhaled. I searched the internet far and wide to find a picture that looked like my muffins, and looked like a picture I would take. This is close, I even have that plate!

Now lets talk muffins. These little beauties are packed full of what a friend calls "West Coast healthiness". Spelt and whole wheat flour, oats, oat bran, ground flax, and pumpkin make up the foundation of these muffins, with added deliciousness from raw sugar and maple syrup..so much so that I thought maple should get a front seat too! It's important to not overcook these, they have such wonderful moistness it would be sad to cook it away. I cut down the cooking time to 25 minutes and I think that was just perfect. Next time I might add something with texture, like apple bits or grated carrot or walnut peices. All would be awesome additions!

Pumpkin Oat Maple Muffins
modified from foodnetwork.com

•1 cup spelt flour
•1 cup whole wheat flour
•1/2 cup rolled oats
•2 Tbsp oat bran
•2 1/2 tsp baking powder
•1/2 tsp baking soda
•1/4 tsp sea salt
•1 tsp cinnamon
•1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
•6 Tbsp raw sugar
•3 Tbsp maple syrup
•1 Tbsp flax meal
•3/4 cup low fat milk
•1 can (397ml) pumpkin
•2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
•1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
•2 Tbsp olive oil
•1 egg

Topping
•2 Tbsp raw sugar
•2 Tbsp rolled oats
•1 tsp olive oil
•pinch sea salt

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375°F.
2.In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients, sifting in the baking powder and baking soda. Stir through until well combined.
3.In another bowl, add the remaining wet ingredients, and stir through until well combined.
4.Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, and gently fold and mix through, until just combined (do not over mix).
5.Spoon the mixture into a muffin pan lined with cupcake liners.
6.In a small bowl, mix the sugar, oats, oil, and salt together with your fingers, and then sprinkle on top of each muffin.
7.Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Nutritional values: Each muffin is 166 calories, 4g fat, 5g protein, 31g carbs, 3g fibre, 100mg sodium.