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After my ambitious triple-blog-post week just after Arlo was born, I lost the motivation to write. I even had a few recipes and photos uploaded to my drafts folder, but I just couldn’t write the actual posts.
Knowing how fast this time goes by, I yearned to simply be present. I slowed down, which felt absolutely amazing. I worked when the inspiration was there and didn’t when it wasn’t. I soaked up our sweet baby boy. I savoured the confidence and ease of being a second-time mom (what a difference). A rollercoaster of hormones hit me early on, and I struggled with the blues on and off. I nursed and pumped and nursed some more. Eric and I mumbled incoherent words, back and forth, in the middle of the night (why is it so impossible to string words together at 3am?). I kissed Arlo’s head, cheeks, and feet a million and one times, and it has yet to feel like enough. I don’t think it ever will.
We witnessed Adriana transform into a little girl right before our very eyes. One night as I rocked her at bedtime—with her long legs falling off the side of the rocker, my arms burning under the weight of her body, and her bossy words instructing me what songs to sing and not to sing (“NO thank you, MOMMY!”)—it struck me that I was not cradling a baby anymore. I fought back tears. It had been a while since I rocked her, as my 3rd trimester bump had gotten in the way. Now she was basically a teenager disguised as a two-year-old.
Our basement renovation is almost wrapped up, so we’ve taken up dancing, the four of us, in the unfurnished rooms while listening to Christmas music. Adriana clutches her baby doll in her arms, just like I do with Arlo. We also play hide and seek. Often, the basement fun abruptly ends in tears as Adriana has a penchant for running into walls. Ouch. Boo-boos are kissed, and we explain, once again, why it’s a bit too soon for her to pick up her baby brother. So she hovers about an inch over his face, just trembling with excitement, sneaking in kisses. “He’s looking at you!” she yells with delight as he stares into her eyes.
I never want to forget these moments.
Even though I haven’t been writing as much, I’ve been cooking every chance that I get. A couple months ago, Pulse Canada contacted me about partnering with them to develop and share a recipe in celebration of the International Year of Pulses. If you can believe it, I’ve never created a sponsored recipe; most offers I’ve received didn’t feel like authentic reflections of me and the Oh She Glows brand. But pulses…well, I didn’t have to think twice. Peas, beans, lentils, and chickpeas? You know I’m down with that. As I’ve shared on the blog before, Canada is one of the world’s leading producers of pulses (in fact, we’re the #1 producer of peas and lentils, which I think is super cool). There are a whopping 22,000 pulse farmers in Canada (high fives), and our pulses are consumed in over 150 countries. (“Our pulses”? Okay, now I’m talking like I grew them myself or something!) On a personal level, I eat pulses every single day, and I adore their flavour and versatility. Red Lentil Hummus, Chickpea Pancakes, No Bake Chickpea Cookie Dough Bars (a recipe I never got around to finalizing!), Lentil-Walnut Taco “meat”…the sky’s the limit with what you can create!
Aside from being super nutritious and easy on the wallet, pulses are friendly to the environment, too. Their carbon footprint is lower than almost any other food group.
Pulse Canada has created the “Pulse Pledge” encouraging people to commit to eating pulses once a week for 10 weeks and reduce their carbon footprint all at the same time. It’s totally free, and you can sign up with me here. (Spoiler alert: I’m killing it, lol.)
A big thanks to Pulse Canada for sponsoring this post. I’m delighted to finally share my newest pulse-based stew recipe with you below!
A couple housekeeping notes:
Be sure to check out my Instagram post on Friday for some super exciting Black Friday news (hint hint: big app sale, a free holiday cookie app bundle, and Android news!).
Lastly, I’m thrilled to let you know that Oh She Glows Every Day has made it to the final round in the Goodreads Choice Awards. Thank you so much to everyone who has voted and helped to get the book this far! Voting for the final round is open through November 27th; if you’re game to cast one more virtual ballot (or maybe your first!), I would appreciate the support more than I can say. :)
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Butternut squash, red lentils, and sweet potato are wrapped in a lightly sweet and creamy coconut and tomato broth accented with spicy notes of turmeric, cumin, chili powder, cayenne, and garlic. Apple cider vinegar provides a tangy brightness to bring everything together. This stew tastes better the next day once the flavours have had a chance to mingle; if you can make it the day before serving, I’d highly recommend it! This recipe was created for Pulse Canada, and was inspired by Deliciously Ella. * Make sure to dice the squash and potato very small (about the size of almonds), as this will expedite cooking. Also, if you are short on time, you can skip peeling the butternut squash as the skin is edible. (I don’t recommend skipping peeling the potato, though.) ** You can swap the red lentils for 1 (14-ounce/398 mL) can chickpeas (drained and rinsed). *** You can swap the chard for 5 ounces of baby spinach or a bunch of kale (stemmed). I recommend chopping the greens into small bite-size pieces for easier eating.
Cozy Butternut, Sweet Potato, and Red Lentil Stew
Yield
11 cups (2.75 quarts)Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Ingredients
For the stew:
Optional accompaniments:
Directions
Tip:
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
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This looks delicious and I can’t wait to make it! Based on your recent Snapchats, it looks like you use your slow cooker to make this as well? What are the instructions for making this stew in the slow cooker?
Hi Whitney, I just threw everything into the slow cooker except the greens and cooked it covered on high for 4 hours, followed by 1.5 hours on high UNcovered. Then, I very briefly used the immersion blender to thicken it into a stew texture, and added the greens at the very end. Hope this helps!
Thank you, Angela!
Made it for a potluck. It was a hit. So yummy! I used full fat coconut milk ;)
Made this last night and it was delicious! I roasted the butternut squash first just for fun and it was great. Thank you for the recipe!
So glad you enjoyed it, Talya!
I stumbled on this recipe and looks great except of the Coconut milk, nowadays healthy cooking has a lot of Coconut/coconut milk product in it. I am highly allergic, what would be a good substitute? I have been using almond milk.
Hi Janet, I haven’t tested any swaps for the coconut milk yet, but you can definitely try almond milk. I think cashew milk might lend a nice creaminess too. I’m sure it goes without saying but be sure to use unflavoured (no vanilla) and unsweetened milk. Another thing you could try is using half almond milk and half cashew cream (blend soaked cashews with water until smooth). Please let us know if you try anything out!
I made this for a family potluck. It was a huge hit! I had 3-4 people ask for the recipe (so I directed them here!). I’ve made it a few times since too. It is delicious, nutritious, and pretty easy to make. My boys (3 and 1) liked it (even the time I forgot to cut back the heat for them).
Oh, I’m so pleased to hear everyone loved it! Grinning ear to hear over here. :)
What FABULOUS stew – it was positively delicious and so warming on a dark and dreary winter’s day. I made one change – I substituted Penzey’s “Now Curry” spice blend as it had all of the spices listed in the recipe, plus my favorite fenugreek and cardamom. It was a big hit – even for the non-vegans in my family! Definitely going into my recipe rotation.
https://www.penzeys.com/online-catalog/penzeys-curry/c-24/p-3037/pd-s
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What a great idea, Tonya! I’m so glad the recipe was such a hit with everyone. Keep warm out there!
Made it tonight – so delicious and easy! Perfect for a chilly NYC evening. We had it with brown rice on the side and cilantro on top. Can’t wait to eat the leftovers – I’m sure this will get even more delicious the next day. Thanks for the great recipe!
I’m glad it was a hit, Emily! This stew has definitely become one of our faves for chilly winter nights. :)
This is a fantastic recipe! I swapped the lentils for canned chickpeas in the last ~10 mins of cooking and used baby spinach because that’s what I had. Served over white rice. A perfect, nourishing meal that I will be making again.
I made this recipe without any of the tomato products. Best soup ever!
Yummy recipe! I used my Instapot pressure cooker; it worked great.
Hate to admit this on your website…but I am a meat eater. I have followed this website over the years and incorporated some of the recipes to spice it up and add meatless options to my diet. I made this recipe over the weekend because I happened to have all the ingredients on hand and it was delicious and incredibly satisfying. Just what I needed on a cold January day.
Absolutely delicious- thanks for the recipe.
This was so tasty and quick to make. I had a good friend over last night who loved it and filled up her Pyrex for lunch today. This was my first recipe from your blog (I am new to vegan cooking) and I can’t wait to try more this weekend and share this with my friends and family. Thank you!!!
Oh, I’m so happy to hear you both enjoyed the recipe, Sarah! I hope you love whatever recipes you try this weekend just as much. :)
I was cooking up a storm tonight and only just realized that I was making 2 of your recipes simultaneously without realizing! Your chana masala is my go-to work fuel lunch, and I’m loving this soup for snowy days. I’m a meat & dairy eater but it’s so nice to find yummy vegan recipes to supplement my diet. Thanks!
I found your recipe on www.soulemama.com. I am trying your recipe tonight! So excited!
Mind if I ask what kind of wooden soup bowls you are using? They are beautiful!
Thanks!
Gina
Thank you Gina! The bowls were purchased second hand, so I’m sorry I don’t know where they were from originally. I hope you enjoy the soup!
This was delicious. Both my husband and I loved it. The only changes I made was to add minced ginger in with the garlic, used chicken broth because that’s what I had on hand and used Mae Ploy Yellow Curry Paste for a Thai/Indian fusion. This is now my favorite curry!
Just made this last night and it came out amazing! Very easy and delicious soup recipe.
We LOVED this recipe. I left out the diced tomatoes and the chili powder because i didn’t have any, and it was still amazing. A great winter comfort food dish!
This recipe is so delicious and ignited my obsession with turmeric! After making this stew 3 times in a month, I really wanted to share the recipe with others, so I recently blogged about it on A Healthier Upstate (https://www.ahealthierupstate.org/hidden-gems/hidden-gems-turmeric/) – a health and wellness blog for the upstate New York community. I wanted to thank you for inspiring this story!
Thanks so much for your kind words and lovely post, Erika! :) I’m so thrilled you loved the soup.
This is delicious! Thank you!