Tag: carrots

Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Stew

I love chicken stew. Here in the south, at least chicken stew I’ve had all my life, chicken stew is usually just chicken in a milk based broth with seasonings. And, is eaten with hot sauce and saltine crackers. I started to make that (and I will sometime, and will share it when I do!), but I decided I wanted some vegetables – so I came up with something a little different.

I started with shredded chicken. I realize I sound like a broken record, but I will say it again, for anyone that may have missed it – if you ever need shredded chicken, and you own an instant pot, use your instant pot – and cook your chicken (you can even do it from frozen, if you forgot to thaw it out), with some chicken stock – and then shred it with a hand held mixer. You can get more details here.

While my chicken was cooking, I prepped my vegetables. I used 7 potatoes, 4 carrots and 1 onion. I also added a can of whole kernel corn.

I love my Le Creuset and I use it several times a week. Tonight was no exception. It is, truly, one of my favorite things in my kitchen. I had wanted one for quite a while, but never could justify dropping that much money on one – but, I was given the opportunity to get one as my 20 year anniversary gift from the place I work. I didn’t know I would love it as much as I to – but, I digress… that that to say, I cooked the chicken stew in my Le Creuset. I have 6 3/4 oval Dutch oven, in Cerise.

I added the olive oil, onions and carrots and cooked until they started to soften.

I then added in the seasonings (when I can, I like to add seasonings, like thyme, before adding the liquids – I feel like it opens up the flavor more, if you do). and I just stirred it all through.

I then added in 1 cup of the chicken stock and made sure to pull up any of the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Once that was done, I added in the potatoes, the corn, the chicken (including the stock from the instant pot), the remaining stock and the milk and brought the stew up to a boil. Then, reduced the heat, covered the pot and let it simmer for 45 minutes.

A couple tips:

  • Since the chicken is precooked, you can eat the stew as soon as your vegetables are soft, but the longer you let it simmer, the more the flavors will meld.
  • I didn’t have whole milk, but wanted a creamy soup – so I used some skim milk and some heavy cream. Feel free to adjust which milk to your taste. If I would have had whole milk, I would have just used all whole for the 5 cups the recipe calls for.
  • If you prefer a less ‘creamy’ stew (or just want to make it a little healthier), just adjust the broth to milk ratio, to your liking – but, we definitely prefer the chicken stew with more milk, than broth.
  • If you like a thicker stew, you can certainly add a slurry at the end to thicken.
  • Try it with some hot sauce – that’s how we like it! And, some saltine crackers if you have them – unfortunately, we didn’t tonight.

Chicken and Vegetable Stew

3 large chicken breasts, shredded (with stock from cooking)
4 carrots, chopped
6-8 potatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
3 cups chicken stock (one cup comes from cooking the chicken breasts – if you cook in instant pot, like I do)
5 cups milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp parsley flakes
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp olive oil

  • Cook chicken and shred
  • Prep vegetables
  • In large pot or dutch oven, add olive oil, onions and carrots and cook for 4-5 minutes
  • Add in seasonings and stir through
  • Add in chicken stock, pulling up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot
  • Add the potatoes, then the chicken (including stock from cooking)
  • Finally add in milk – and bring to a boil
  • Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes (or until vegetables are tender)

by Michelle

Hearty Beef Stew

When it starts to get cooler, it’s really hard to beat a good stew. And, beef stew is one of our favorites. It’s warm, filling and feeds a lot – what’s not to love about it?! OH, and it is super easy to make!

I started by chopping my vegetables. Since it was going in a stew, I just rough chopped everything.

The cooking started with, as so many things that I love do, a little bit of olive oil, the onions I chopped and garlic. I cooked the onions and garlic until they started to get soft.

Then I added in the stew meat and browned it – adding in the seasonings, when it started to get browned.

Finally, I added in 4 cups – or one carton – of beef stock, the can of crushed tomatoes and the vegetables.

I let it come to a boil and then reduced the heat and covered the stew.

** Side note, the recipe is written up to indicate that you should, after lowering the heat cook it for about an hour (which is what I would normally do) – however, tonight, my daughter had volleyball and I was getting the dinner ready prior to leaving for the match, so I deviated slightly. I brought it up to a boil and then simmered for about 30 minutes or so. I had preheated my oven to 450 degrees. When I had to leave, I put the dutch oven (lid on) in the oven, turned off the oven and let it continue to cook in the oven. While this isn’t necessary for this recipe, and isn’t even how I would normally do it, I do mention it in case it is helpful to someone! The Le Creuset dutch oven is so well insulated, that this works perfectly – and kept the beef stew nice and warm for the time that we were away from the house. It was nice to be able to come home, only needing to thicken the stew before eating!

When we got home, I removed the dutch oven from the oven and returned it to the stove, as I wanted to add a quick slurry (just a couple tablespoons of corn starch mixed with about 1/2 cup or so of cold water) to the stew to thicken it a bit. To help it thicken, I brought it back up to a boil prior to adding in the slurry. Point of note – even after being in the oven, which wasn’t on – but, had been preheated to 450 degrees, for a couple hours – the stew was still pretty hot and was up to a boil in a matter of about 2 minutes.

We were hungry and we were cold – we enjoyed our beef stew about 10 – 15 minutes after adding the slurry! Super easy – super filling – super delicious – super perfect for this busy evening.

Hearty Beef Stew

2.5 – 3 lbs stew meat
5 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
6-8 red potatoes, diced
1 large can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
4 cups beef stock
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
3/4 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp pepper
1 tbsp Umami seasoning

  • Chop vegetables
  • In a large dutch oven, add olive oil and then onions and garlic, cook until soft
  • Add in stew meat and brown, add in seasonings
  • Add in tomatoes and beef stock, bring to a boil – then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for approximately 1 hour (timing may vary depending on the size you cut your veggies)
  • Just before serving, bring back up to a boil – and add in a slurry of cold water and corn starch to thicken

by Michelle

Easy Chicken and Rice Casserole

I was looking for something easy to make tonight – and I knew I wanted to use chicken. So, I decided to make an easy chicken and rice casserole – that I could just throw together, put in the oven and forget about it (for the most part). Is it just me or should a casserole be comfort food? Maybe it is because I love casseroles, but I tend to associate them with comfort food. After a night of not sleeping well, and feeling poorly as a result of that, comfort food sounded just like what I needed.

Comfort food, at least in my house, tends to be creamy! And, what could make a casserole more creamy than Campbell’s ‘cream of whatever’ soup? For this recipe, I decided to use a cream of chicken and a cream of celery. To that, I added some celery, carrots and onion – to go with the rice and chicken.

As far as seasonings, I used salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika and umami seasoning.

For the chicken, I used my instant pot to cook it (in 1 cup of stock, which I also added to the casserole). I cooked 2 very large chicken breasts, from frozen in 20 minutes – and used my hand mixer to shred it. I’ve blogged about this before – and, I still stand by the fact that I’ll never do shredded chicken any other way!

I chose to make the casserole in my large dutch oven. Once all the vegetables were chopped and the chicken was shredded, I just dumped everything into the dutch oven.

And stirred… Yes, it is really that simple! Dump the ingredients and stir!

I then put the lid on, and put the dutch oven in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, I removed it from the oven, uncovered, topped with bread crumbs. You don’t want to add the bread crumbs until some of the liquid from the casserole have been absorbed – otherwise, it will just get mushy, instead of adding a little crispiness to the top of the casserole.

And back into the oven it went, uncovered – for another 20 minutes.

There are vegetables in the casserole, but if you want – you can serve alongside another vegetable or side. I had some field peas with mine.

Easy Chicken and Rice Casserole

2 – 3 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (along with stock from cooking the chicken breasts)
2 1/2 cups rice
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery (or mushroom) soup
2 1/2 ‘cans’ (using soup can to measure) chicken stock
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 onion, diced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp paprika
2 tsp Umami seasoning
2/3 cup panko bread crumbs

  • In a large dutch oven, mix all ingredients (yes, it is really that easy – dump it all in!)
  • Cover dutch oven and cook for 45 minutes, at 400 degrees
  • Uncover – top with Panko bread crumbs – and bake for another 20 minutes, uncovered
by Michelle

Weekday Chicken Pot Pie

As I didn’t make a homemade crust, I guess this is a cheater chicken pot pie – or, I like Weekday Chicken Pot Pie better, since using a prepared pie crust makes it super easy!

While I didn’t make a homemade pie crust, I did use fresh veggies – carrots, celery, onion and potatoes to be exact. All chopped similar size. I also cooked 2 large chicken breasts, in my instant pot, and shredded them. To make this recipe even easier – you could use frozen veggies and rotisserie chicken!

In a pan, with some butter, I softened the onions – then added the remaining vegetables and seasonings, to cook a bit on the stove.

After cooking for 5-10 minutes, I added in some flour (which will help to thicken the filling as it cooks). I stirred the mixture well, allowing the flour to get well distributed in the pan. Finally, I added in chicken (along with the stock from when I cooked it and shredded it in the instant pot – you can see how I do this, on this post. I will never do shredded chicken any way but this way, ever again! It is so easy and I can start with frozen chicken!!) – and mixed through.

I added in the additional stock and the milk, and mixed well. I allowed the filling to cook until it was the thickness I like for my chicken pot pie.

While the filling was thickening, I prepared my casserole by adding one of the pie crusts to the bottom. I, ultimately, needed to cut a bit off of the other pie crust to ensure that the full casserole was covered.

Once the filling was the appropriate thickness, I removed it from the stove and spooned it into the casserole dish.

Finally, I topped the mixture with the remaining pie crust. I cut a few vents and crimped the edges to create a good seal.

The pot pie is baked for a little more than hour in a 400 degree oven. After 40 minutes, I did end up putting a little bit of melted butter on top – cooking for 10 more minutes, uncovered. Then, for the remaining time, I covered it with tin foil (to avoid too much browning of the crust).

After removing from the oven, I allowed it to sit for about 10 minutes and it was ready to go! Fairly quick, super easy, very delicious Weekday Chicken Pot Pie!

Weekday Chicken Pot Pie

1 box refrigerated pie crusts (for top and bottom) – or make your own pie crust
2 chicken breasts, shredded (reserve stock from cooking)
2 1/2 carrots, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 potatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp butter
1/4 flour
1/2 cup milk (I used 1/4 cup skim and 1/4 cup heavy cream)
1/2 cup chicken stock (in addition to the stock from when you cooked chicken)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp Umami seasoning

  • Cook and shred chicken breasts, set aside
  • Chop vegetables to similar size
  • In large skillet, melt butter and add onions and cook 2-3 minutes
  • Add in remaining vegetables, along with seasonings and cook until they start to soften (probably 5-10 minutes)
  • Add in flour and mix well
  • Add chicken (with stock from cooking chicken) into pan
  • Add in additonal stock and stir well
  • Add in milk and allow filling to thicken, slightly
  • Once filling is desired thickness, add into a casserole dish, which has been lined with one of the pie crusts
  • Top with remaining pie crust
  • Vent top of crust and cook for 1 hour (you may want to top with foil after 40 minutes or so, so your crust doesn’t get too brown) @ 400 degrees.

by Michelle

Meatless Monday: Hearty Lentil Stew {vegetarian}

Yesterday, we decided to (mostly – not counting lunch, which was leftovers and had meat) do a Meatless Monday! A hearty lentil stew seemed appropriate. Loaded with lots of vegetables and bright flavors, this stew hits the spot.

I knew I was going to use celery, carrots and potatoes. When I found myself at Trader Joe’s today and saw that they had Delicata squash, I decided to add that in. Then when I got home, I remembered that I had a few baby bella mushrooms, so decided to use those too.

Once all of the veggies were chopped, I put them (all but the potatoes) in a medium-high heat dutch oven, with a bit of olive oil to saute. I cooked them for about 5-7 minutes, until the vegetables started to soften.

Then I added in the can of diced tomatoes, with the juice, vegetable stock, potatoes and seasonings and brought it up to a boil. I then, reduced the heat – covered the pot and simmered for 15 minutes.

I then added in the lentils and the quinoa and cooked for another 20 minutes.

Finally, I added in the spinach and the lemon juice and let it simmer, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes more.


Serve with finely grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese.

Hearty Lentil Stew

Total Prep and Cook time: 1 hour 20 min

2 cups lentils
1/3 cup quinoa
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
6 oz fresh spinach
4 red potatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
1 winter squash (I used delicata), chopped
5-6 baby bella mushrooms, sliced
6 cups vegetable broth
1 large can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, with juice
juice of 2 lemons
2 tbsp garlic, minced
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning

  • Chop all vegetables to similar size
  • In large dutch oven, or pot, put small amount of olive oil – heat over medium – high heat
  • Add chopped veggies (all except the potatoes) and saute until veggies start to get soft
  • Pour in canned tomatoes, vegetable stock and potatoes and bring to a boil, then reduce heat
  • Add in seasonings, cover and simmer for 15 minutes
  • Add in lentils and quinoa and allow to cook for another 20 minutes
  • Add in the spinach and lemon juice and simmer for 5-10 more minutes
  • Serve with finely grated parmesan or asiago cheese
by Michelle