Autumn Harvest Chicken Stew

Eating “seasonal” can get pretty tricky around the end of November where I live. We stockpile what we can in the summer, and while my freezer is still pretty happy with summer green beans and zucchini, we just enjoyed our last jar of fresh tomato soup from our summer garden, and our local farmer’s markets are either closed until May or only open once or twice a month until spring.

Our local grocer does really nice job of keeping as much local in season produce as possible from squashes to dark leafy greens, and from about December until April, I really rely on them. I have gotten pretty creative at rotating the autumn/winter produce selection so we can keep our produce budget happy as well as nourish ourselves and enjoy some good food.

At the beginning of October our chicken farmer harvests the last of their flock and I pile our freezer with about 20 or so chickens to get us until May. Once a month I get 3 of those chickens into my oven roaster and portion out the meat to last us most of the month – it is a big time saver as well as budget guide for me. I usually use a couple handfuls of the shredded chicken to make this stew – it is a popular with the girls and packs well in the school soup thermos for lunch.

I love the bright, cheery color that the squash puree makes the broth, and it gives a great creaminess and sweet flavor to the stew. There is just something warm and comforting about a bowl of stew as winter rolls in, and this is one of my favorites.

Tips:

• This batch makes enough stew for my family to have for dinner plus enough leftovers for another dinner or lunch or two. You can store any extra leftovers you don’t want to finish within a week in the freezer.
• Don’t forget about the kids 🙂 If you have a little one still working on chewing chunks of chicken you can puree or pulse the stew through a blender. My 15 month old eats bowl after bowl of this – the veggies are nice a soft and I chop them small enough so they can handle it without needing extra cutting or a blender.
• Squash keeps really well in cool dark storage like a basement or cupboard. If you see them on sale around mid to late autumn stock up! This stew also works using butternut squash too!
• Use your leftover turkey from Thanksgiving instead of chicken!
• It is so worth making your own bone broth for soups like this. Not only is the flavor way more superior, but the nutritional benefit far outweighs that of store bought.
• You could do all your veggie chopping – even your squash roasting the night before if you plan on making this on a busy day. If all that is done the soup comes together super fast.
• Chopped cabbage or Brussels sprouts work well in place of the spinach or as a change up!

This post was shared at Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, & Allergy Free Wednesday!