Italian Chicken Stew

In my house, we don't eat a lot of red meat. There are several reasons but the main one is that white meat is just so much better for you. Every once in a blue moon I get a hankering for a cheeseburger, but other than that...we pretty much just use turkey in all our recipes and chicken as our stand alone meat.

I love making soups and stews because they have a lot of healthy ingredients and they're so filling while typically being pretty low calorie. I like trying new, different types of recipes and this one definitely fit the bill. It's an Italian chicken stew that simmers in a red wine sauce. This is such a hearty, wholesome dish. Very filling! Plus it is just so pretty. No really. It's a nice colorful dish.

Italian Chicken Stew

Ingredients:

*4-5 chicken breast
*1 can sliced carrots
*1 can dark red kidney beans
*1 can Northern beans
*1 can diced tomatoes
*1 bunch of celery

*1 small can tomato paste
* Italian seasoning
*Garlic powder 
* 3/4 cup dry red wine
*1 cup water
* Salt and Pepper
*1 Tbsp sugar

To start with you need to make sure your chicken is thawed. I typically just buy the big bags of frozen chicken at the store. So I get out four or five chicken breasts and either leave them in the fridge for a day or microwave them for about 4 minutes. Then slice the chicken into bite size bits and place in the crock pot. Then add the carrots (drained), kidney beans (drained) and Northern beans (drained).

I get the can of diced tomatoes that has Italian seasoning in it already. Don't drain it, dump that can in, juice and all. Then chop up the celery (you'll want at least 1 cup chopped...I use probably twice that but I like celery) and add that in. Add in a LARGE amount of garlic powder, some salt and a healthy dose of pepper. I'm sorry that I never measure those things. I just shake it in until I have the smell I want.

In a separate bowl, mix the cup of water, 1/2 can of tomato paste, 3/4 cup of dry red wine, 1 Tbsp and a couple of tablespoons of Italian seasoning. Either whisk the ingredients or stir briskly with a fork, either way, just make sure they're good and blended. Then pour that mixture over the ingredients in the pot and mix well.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 5-6 hours.

I have tried letting this recipe marinate over night in the refrigerator and couldn't tell much difference in the end result.

The thing I DON'T like about this recipe is that it takes about a half hour to prepare. All the can opening, chopping and mixing are time consuming. However, it works pretty well to make it the night before and leave the pot in the fridge over night (I have a crock pot that the ceramic "pot" part comes out for cleaning etc) so you can just put the pot in the cooker and let it cook all day while you're at work.

One variation would be to use chopped garlic cloves instead of garlic powder. It does enhance the flavor a bit but I almost never have garlic cloves in the house and never remember to get them so I just use powder. It works and it is one less thing to chop. But you should try it both ways if you're motivated.

This stew goes really well with some Jiffy sweet corn muffins. It's such a delicious and filling stew that it doesn't really need any sides or anything. It's good all by itself!

Hope you enjoy!

Let me know what you think.