Crock Pot Chicken Stew(p)

Let it snow! Do you like the snowflake plugin I added? I couldn’t help myself. I’m still not over the fact that I missed snow in New York City by five days. :/ At least this way I can pretend we’re getting some here in Washington.

This has been one busy week. Bu.Sy. I’m so busy, I don’t even have time to tell you how busy I am. I barely have time to post … but here’s a short-and-sweet for you. 😀

As I’ve told you before, I LOVE when a handful of this or that — leftovers or just items that need to be used up — turn themselves into a recipe for me. This is another case of that. I had a baggie of homemade chicken stock in the freezer, some red potatoes that were definitely NOT going to wait for me to return from Haiti, a few chicken breasts, and three lone chicken sausages waiting to be used up. This stewy-soup (hence the name) was perfectly delicious. We ate every drop and wished we had more.

Here’s how it all came together:

Crock Pot Chicken Stew(p)

2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
3 chicken-jalapeno sausages, sliced (the kind that come fully cooked)
2 cans corn
about 10 medium red potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 onion, diced
1 small red pepper, diced
6 garlic cloves
chicken broth, enough to cover all
chicken bouillon (Better Than Bouillon)
garlic powder (to taste)
2 tsps Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
butter and flour to make a roux (about 3 TBSP of each)
cheese

Place in the crock pot: chicken breasts, chicken-jalapeno sausages, corn and potatoes.

In a skillet, saute the onion and pepper in a little butter. Near the end, add diced garlic cloves and cook for just 3 or 4 minutes more. Add all that to the crock pot. Make sure you get every speck of goodness out of that pan by deglazing with a little chicken broth. Just pour the broth in and scrape up the darkened bits. Add all to crock pot.

Add enough homemade or purchased chicken broth to cover all. Set crock pot to cook on low for about 6 hours.

About an hour before you want to eat, make a roux. (You can do this at the beginning if you’re really pressed for time, but I just think it’s better to do it near the end.) In skillet, melt about 3 TBSP butter and add same amount of flour. Cook for 5 minutes to cook out that flour taste. Add a very generous scoop of Better Than Bouillon (or several cubes of chicken bouillon) and stir to combine. Taking a ladle, scoop some chicken broth from the crock pot into the skillet and stir to combine. Keep adding broth from the crock pot until the mixture is smooth and not too thick. Season with garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. I always, always, always season my roux. I figure, if it tastes good in that state, it’s going to taste great in the pot.

Add roux to the crock pot and stir well. Cover and let cook another hour or so. When vegetables are tender, the stew(p) is done. Ladle into bowls and top with cheese. It won’t look pretty at first, before the cheese melts in …