This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Lancaster chapter.
Meat Free Monday is an international movement that originated in 2009, founded by Paul, Laura and Stella McCartney. It involves having at least one meat free day each week, to encourage people to help slow down the rate of climate change, preserve resources and improve health. (Source: https://www.meatfreemondays.com)
It has also been implemented across schools as an attempt to reduce meat consumption and help our planet.
Image from Twitter
Following on from last year’s discussion of my love for the slow cooker (https://www.hercampus.com/school/lancaster/essential-student-cooking-appliance), I used it recently to make a Chickpea Stew. The house smelt amazing and I was hungry all day, but it was well worth the wait!
Ingredients
- 1 pepper (colour of your choice), chopped into chunks
- 2 red onions, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 can of chopped tomatoes
- 1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- A generous handful of frozen butternut squash chunks
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- Seasoning, to taste
Method
- Add the all the vegetables to the slow cooker and stir well. Add the spices and seasoning, stirring thoroughly to ensure it has been incorporated throughout the mixture.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and set to low. Allow to cook for up for four to six hours.
- After the stew has finished cooking, serve with your chosen accompaniment. I enjoyed mine with brown rice, but pasta, roasted potatoes or crusty bread would work equally well!
Hints
- When using the slow cooker, it is recommended that you use half the consistency of liquid as you would for a standard recipe. You might find that the consistency is too liquidey for your liking. If so, this can easily be rectified by removing the lid for half an hour, which will allow the excess water to evaporate.
- You don’t have to stick to this assortment of vegetables! You could replace the chickpeas with another veggie protein source, such as kidney beans.
- Be inventive! Don’t be afraid to go bold with your spices (just make sure you taste it as it is added).
- You could of course buy a whole butternut squash to be peeled and chopped, but this is quite time consuming. The pre-prepared chunks can be difficult to get hold off- I got mine from Aldi and I know that Asda also sell them.