Whether you are looking to adopt a nutrient-dense, plant-based diet or are just trying to find healthier alternatives to some of your favorite dishes, we have great recipes on our site to suit your tastes! Some of our recipes can look a little intimidating, though. That’s why we created a weekly segment called RecipEASY — to make healthy eating easier. We (Kate and Kayla) make a recipe from our site and break it down to give you helpful tips and modifications. Since neither of us are professional chefs, we are always looking for ways to simplify healthy recipes!
This week we made…
Butternut Squash and Swiss Chard Chili
With winter right around the corner, Kate and I decided to make one of Healthy Food Now’s chilis! Since we already conquered the black bean and butternut squash chili, we chose to make its cousin: butternut squash and swiss chard chili.
Our shopping list was fairly short and inexpensive: kidney beans, onion, garlic, butternut squash, green bell pepper, tomato, Swiss chard, chili powder, cumin, vegetable stock, and arrowroot powder. Find the full list of measurements here.
As usual, we started with chopping -- onion, garlic, butternut squash, green pepper, and tomato! Fortunately we had a peeler this time, which made the butternut squash a little easier to cut.
When we finished chopping, all of the ingredients (except for the Swiss chard) went into a big soup pot. After bringing the mix to a boil, we let it simmer for about 15 minutes.
In the meantime, we washed our Swiss chard and chopped it into manageable pieces (well, for the most part). When the time on the stove was up, we added the Swiss chard to the pot and let it simmer for another 4-5 minutes.
When the chili was done, we let it sit for a couple minutes in an attempt to let it thicken. It was more watery than we expected, which was most likely due to not adding enough kidney beans (we underestimated how many cans we would need).
We added an extra clove of garlic (because we love garlic) and probably will add even more, along with some extra chili powder, next time to spice it up a bit more.
This recipe is quick to make and is a great option if you are short on time. You could even buy pre-cut butternut squash. We’ve also seen pre-peeled garlic at our grocery store, which would make the cooking process faster!
Try this chili out for yourself and let us know how it goes in the comments below!
