Butternut Squash stuffed with Spicy Chicken and Rice

Slimming Eats Recipe

Serves 2

Extra Easy

Ingredients

• 1 medium sized butternut squash
• 300g of chicken thigh (fat/skin removed), chopped into small pieces
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 red pepper, finely chopped
• 1 courgette, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 3/4 cup of TruRoots sprouted rice and quinoa blend (or if you can’t get similar to this you can use a long grain rice)
• 1.5 cups (360ml) of chicken stock
• 2 teaspoons of paprika
• 2 teaspoons of cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• salt and black pepper
• olive oil spray
• some of the flesh of the butternut squash
• fresh coriander

Method

Preheat oven to 180c or 350f (gas mark 4)

Carefully slice the butternut squash in half lengthways. Scoop out the seeds and discard. Then spoon away some of the flesh, to make a hollow like dip in the squash lengths.

Roughly chop the pieces of squash that you scooped away.

Season the squash halves with some salt and black pepper, spray with olive oil spray and place flesh side down on a baking tray and bake in the oven until the butternut squash start to feel slightly soft to the touch. Remove from oven and set aside

In the meantime, spray a large frying pan or skillet with some olive oil spray, add the chicken thigh and fry until lightly golden, remove and set aside.

Add the onion and garlic and fry until softened. Add the courgette, red pepper and chopped up pieces of squash and fry for a further few minutes.

Stir in the rice, tomato paste, spices and a little salt and black pepper and mix to evenly coat.

Add the stock, bring to a boil and then reduce heat  and simmer until stock has reduced down and rice is cooked.

Spoon mixture into the squash halves and then return to the oven and bake for about 20 mins.

Serve topped with chopped coriander and enjoy.

If you have a HEa spare, you could top with some melting cheese.

The recipe above has been calculated for Slimming World, however for those of you following the Weight Watchers plan or another calorie controlled type diet. Below is the approx nutritional information: