This is soooo good! It's a flavorful, hearty, filling and healthy vegetarian meal. And especially tasty! I pretty much used the spices as stated, and thought the spice was perfect, but did make some minor changes based upon what I had available, and personal taste. I increased the amount of onion, using one small red onion for the quinoa and one for the stew. Also a bit more garlic. I also used less butternut squash (got a small bag of fresh, cut up squash from Trader Joe's and cut the pieces smaller) and 3 carrots cut into 1/4" slices for the stew (cooks faster) and added a can of garbanzo beans (12 min after adding the squash and carrots to the onion mixture) for a complete protein with the quinoa. I juiced a whole lemon for the stew and it gave it a nice brightness. I didn't have a can of tomatoes so instead chopped up one fresh tomato. I used basil instead of the cilantro because I had it, but will probably try it with the cilantro next time. Tarragon would probably be interesting too. This recipe is very forgiving and you can adjust as you'd like. I will definitely be making this again.