Saturday, September 12, 2009

Weekend Recipe -- Chicken & Sweet Potato Stew

So I was just tweeting (there's a big surprise) and my little crockpot addiction came up. Yes, I have like 5 or 6 of them, want to make something of it? I use them quite often, usually 2x a week. It's become one of my secret weapons since my back surgery. I've mentioned that I often have trouble holding it together by the end of the day. I will throw the ingredients in a crockpot earlier in the day (when I'm still holding it together) and the family still gets to eat at dinner time. Often, I don't eat, that's how tired I am by the end of the day. Knowing that, easy is really key to my choices. Most of these recipes are NOT my original creations. I find a lot stuff on the web. I will give credit and link when possible, but I don't necessarily have all the links any more. I also don't brown my meats before hand or things like that. It may not look at pretty, but it still tastes yummy, and that's all that really matters. If you have picky eaters, these may not all be for you. My kids are incredible eaters. (Better than most adults.) I'm also big on changing up my recipes. We find that most things are on the bland side, so I often double my spices or change them altogether. When I do that I'll try to make sure to tell you what the real deal is, and what I like to do. Ok, enough already here's the first week's installment:

So this week I found this new one here which is linked via the title.

I made some changes, noted below:

Next time I'm going to try adding Cumin I think or yellow curry. We served this over white rice. Kid's raved about it.

Chicken & Sweet Potato Stew

Hands-On Time: 15 minutes
Ready In: 6 to 8 hours (LOW) or 3 to 4 hours (HIGH)
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

    4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces (used boneless, whole ones)
    2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed (bought the precut ones from Trader Joe's)
    2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed (used fingerling's, not cut up)
    2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1⁄2-inch slices (used baby ones, not cut up)
    1 can (28 ounces) whole stewed tomatoes (used cut up, not stewed, what I had)
    1 teaspoon salt
    1 teaspoon paprika
    1 teaspoon celery seeds (omitted, I was out)
    1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    1⁄8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    1⁄8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (was out, so I used Allspice)
    1 cup nonfat, low-sodium chicken broth (all out, used tomato can w/chicken juice & water)
    1⁄4 cup fresh basil, chopped (used dried & probably about 2 Tbsp)

Directions

  1. Combine the chicken, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, salt, paprika, celery seeds, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and broth in the 4 1⁄2-quart CROCK-POT® slow cooker.
  2. Cover; cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours.

Tip
You may double all the ingredients when using a 5, 6 or 7-quart CROCK-POT® slow cooker.

Note
This light stew has an Indian influence and offers excellent flavor without the fat.

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