Moroccan Style Chicken and Butternut Squash

Happy Monday all! Hope everyone had as swell a weekend as I did! It had been awhile since I’ve really had down time at my house to take care of all those domestic-type things, but this weekend I somehow didn’t have anything major planned, and was therefor free to get back in the kitchen and spend most of Saturday cooking up a storm. And boy did it feel good to get that apron on, multiple pots and pans on the stove, and shed some onion-chopping tears.

I’ve had this Chicken-Butternut Tagine recipe bookmarked from Cooking Light for some time now, and just recently remembered it, “pinned” it, and decided to give it a try! I’m really glad I did, because I definitely needed to get back into some healthy eats, after a week of munching on my chocolate chip cookies! This recipe is also super-simple to throw together, and only requires a few ingredients (besides the numerous spices, all of which miraculously I had in my pantry) and less than an hour to cook.

Chicken-Butternut Tagine (via Cooking Light)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 8 ounces peeled cubed butternut squash
• 1/3 cup halved pitted picholine olives (I couldn’t find these, but used small Spanish olives instead)
• 8 pitted dried plums, chopped
• Fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves (optional)

Preparation
Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion; cook 8 minutes or until golden, stirring occasionally. Stir in cumin and next 7 ingredients (through chicken); cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in broth, squash, olives, and dried plums; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 10 minutes or until squash is tender. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

Enjoy!