Chicken Butternut Stew with Couscous

Usually I have meals planned out in advance, but last night I found myself in a situation where I didn't have a plan and didn't really feel like going grocery shopping. So, I decided to get creative with some stuff that I had laying around and invented this recipe. Surprisingly, it turned out pretty good, so I thought that I would share.

1 Medium Butternut Squash peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
3 Large Boneless Chicken Breasts cut into 1 inch cubes
4 slices Bacon
3 Small Pink Lady Apples cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 Small Yellow Onions (or 1 large) cut into 1/2 inch squares
1 1/2 cups Raisins
2 Bay Leaves
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp red/black pepper blend.
4 whole cloves
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup uncooked couscous

Cook the four slices of bacon in a deep skillet. Remove bacon but retain bacon grease in pan. Cook the cubed chicken in the bacon grease until just starting to brown. Add squash, apples and onions. Cut up or crumble bacon and add to skillet with chicken and vegetables. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes on medium high heat. Add raisins, celery seed, thyme, cloves and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat, cover and simmer on low for approximately 30 minutes until squash is cooked through. Add couscous and let stand 5 minutes before serving for the couscous to absorb the liquid from the stew.

I was originally going to cook the couscous separately and then serve the stew over the couscous, but then I figured that it would taste even better if the couscous were to absorb the liquid from the stew rather than just plain water. Unfortunately I used twice as much as I indicated in the recipe here and ended up with a chicken butternut couscous paste :) It was still tasty but not so presentable. So, I halved the amount that I actually used for the recipe.

The cloves were kind of a last minute addition. I wanted something to compliment the sweet flavors of the apples and raisins. I considered using nutmeg or cinnamon but decided the cloves would work better in the end.

Serves about 6. Enjoy!