YIELDS:
PREP TIME:
COOK TIME:
TOTAL TIME:
ingredients
4 Whole chicken breasts
6 Carrots (2 chopped and diced, 4 peeled and cut into ½ inch pieces)
3 Celery Stalks (chopped and diced)
1 Large yellow onion (chopped and diced)
2 Garlic cloves minced finely
10 small red potatoes halved or quartered based on size
6 oz. package of white button mushrooms cleaned and halved
6 oz. package of cremini mushrooms cleaned and halved
1 cup of frozen or fresh green beans halved
1 cup of frozen peas
1 cup of frozen corn
2 Tsp. dried thyme
2 Tsp. dried rosemary
½ Tsp. Calabrian chili flakes
Salt & Pepper
1 Can of Campbell’s condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (low fat or healthy choice)
2 32 oz. cartons of Chicken Stock
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
Pam cooking spray and 1 Tbsp. of olive oil
DIRECTIONS
1. Spray a big pot with pam cooking spray. Add olive oil and heat. Add the diced carrots, celery and onion and sauté for about five minutes until soft. Add chopped garlic and cook for one minute.
2. Salt and pepper your chicken breasts and add them to the pot. Cook on both sides until they are par cooked (about 8-10 minutes). Add ½ carton of stock. 1 Tsp. of thyme and 1 Tsp. of rosemary and the pepper flakes. Cook until stock is simmering.
3. Add the can of soup and stir into broth so it is evenly distributed in the pot. Add potatoes and carrots and enough stock to cover them.
4. Cook until the broth comes to a new simmer. Add the frozen or fresh corn, peas and green beans (no need to thaw the frozen ones before hand). Add the remaining tsp. of thyme and rosemary and about ¼ tsp. of black pepper and a tsp. of salt. Taste the stew. Does it need more heat? Add more chili flakes if that’s your thing! Add the remaining sock.
5. Let this cook until it is simmering rapidly then turn the heat to medium/low and cook until meat is just tearing apart and the potatoes and carrots are getting soft.
6. Add the mushrooms and cook for about 10 more minutes. Combine a ¼ cup of the hot stock from the pot with the 2 Tbsp. of cornstarch in a small bowl and stir to eliminate any lumps. Add to the stew.
NOTE: I originally found a recipe by Robin Leach that was cooked in a clay pot in the oven and used champagne rather than stock. Over the years, I’ve played with this recipe over and over and have made it one of my go-to meals during the winter. It is packed with lean protein and veggies, has minimal fat and quite honestly, tastes much better on days 2, 3 and 4!!! This is my idea of comfort food so dig in, tweak it to make it yours by adding as much heat as you like and use whatever veggies you have on hand. Enjoy.
