Chicken Quinoa Stew

(from picky-palate.com)

If you haven't been to picky-palate.com, then you must go at once! This is one of my favorite places to get recipes, and everything I have tried has been soooo yummy. I picked up this recipe since it has been soooo cold in NYC, and we have been eating a lot of soup. My pictures aren't that great, so to see the post where I got this recipe, click here.
Here is what you will need:

-2 tbls. extra virgin olive oil
-1 large onion, chopped
-5 Stalks celery, chopped (I didn't have celery, so I made it without)
4 large carrots, peeled and sliced
-2 cups sweet pepper, chopped (Trader joe's has a bag of frozen peppers that are perfect!)
-1 large zucchini, chopped
-64 oz chicken broth
-15 oz can diced tomatoes
-5 medium yukon gold potatoes, cubed into 1 inch pieces
3 cups cooked quinoa
-4 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
-kosher salt, black pepper, and garlic salt (optional) to taste
1/12 cups fresh parsley, chopped

optional: 2 tbls. Dijon mustard, 1 tbls. hot sauce
(I didn't use these and it still tasted great!)

I also boiled my chicken earlier in the day, and it was super easy to shred and was very delicious:)

Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Saute the onion, celery, carrots, peppers and zucchini, until softened. (for me this took about 10-15 minutes, because I was trying to make it really soft for J). Stir in the chicken broth, tomatoes, and potatoes. increase heat to high just until broth starts to boil. Reduce heat to medium, and cook potatoes for about ten minutes. Reduce the heat to low and stir in quinoa, chicken, mustard, and hot sauce. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Stir in fresh parsley, and simmer until you are ready to eat!

It is super delicious and hearty:) We like to eat it with this bread:

most recipes make too much for our family to eat (even when we have leftovers the next day) so I like to turn one meal into two by freezing half of it. So, I always have these awesome bags on hand:

They are so great! You put your food in, suck out the air, and stick it in the freezer and it will last months and months! And when you go to eat it will still taste excellent.

It is perfect for when you come back from vacation, or you have a long day and don't know what to make for dinner. Just grab one of your frozen meals, stick it in a pot of hot water to thaw (or thaw in refrigerator overnight) and voila! An instant home cooked meal:)