Recipe of the Week: Chicken Stew

As students, it’s sometimes tricky to know how to eat well and find the time and money to do so. Every weekend this semester, nutrition student Anna Richardson brings you a column on theeyeopener.com about various issues of nutrition and  Melissa Danchak contributes some simple recipes that you can make for cheap. 

Melissa’s Chicken Stew

When the weather gets cold and dreary, I enjoy some good old comfort food to warm up! This recipe is super easy to make and quite flexible in terms of what you can to put in it. You can even make it vegetarian if you like by replacing the chicken with beans and using vegetable stock. Chicken stew is inexpensive, freezes well, and can feed you all week.

When purchasing soup stock, look for the liquid versions and avoid the bouillon cubes as they are packed with salt. The reduced sodium or no salt added types are readily available now and they give you better control over the flavour of the dish – not to mention they cut down on your sodium intake. Using less salt lets you experiment with other spices to create new flavour combinations. You can try adding some heat to your soups or stews by adding in a bit of cayenne pepper, or whatever is on your spice rack!

Enjoy! And leave your comments below!

Melissa

Skill level: easy

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 60 minutes

Servings: about 6 – 8

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. unsalted butter

2 small onions, diced

2 celery stalks, cut into small pieces

2 large carrot, diced

1 large potato, peeled and cubed

3 tbsp. flour –you may need more depending on the consistency you want

3 cups chicken stock – try to use reduced sodium or no salt added

2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

1 large green pepper, cubed

1 cup. frozen peas

1 tsp. dried rosemary

1 tsp. dried thyme 

Salt & pepper to taste

Optional: cayenne pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat butter in a large pot. Add onions and cook until translucent (about 3 minutes).
2. Add in celery and carrots; mix well and season.  Continue cooking 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Mix in potatoes and flour. Stir really well to ensure flour coats all the vegetables. Cook for another minute or so.
4. Stir in the chicken stock. Add spices.
5. Add chicken and bring to a boil.
6. Cook stew for 40 minutes over low heat (until chicken is cooked through).
7. Add green pepper and frozen peas. Cook for another 8 minutes. Serve.