It's January! Bitterly cold and perfect time for some hearty, healthy stew. The first food experiment: crockpot chicken and sweet potato stew, with mushrooms and salad greens.
I adapted this recipe from Eating Well. But since I am the worst chef ever, I did not make it the way they prescribed. First of all, no wine and no fresh rosemary. They both violate rule #1 of being the worst chef ever: the rule of waste. If a recipe calls for an ingredient that you can only buy in a quantity larger than what you'll use, and that ingredient will spoil if you don't use all of it, and you probably won't use the rest of it anyways, then find another ingredient. Two sprigs of rosemary? The grocery only sells packets of six and it's January so my herb garden is yielding zilch. One cup of wine? I'm not drinking much these days and wine only lasts so long.
Second, I eliminated the shallots and garlic because they're high in FODMAPs. But I kept the mushrooms. You can skip them.
Third, I have a bucket of salad greens a few days past their prime--perfect for the slow cooker.
So, let's review the ingredients. All measurements are approximate:
5-6 bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed of skin and fat (about 2 lbs)
6 sweet potatoes (about 3 lbs)
1 carton white mushrooms (mine was 8 oz but you can add more)
1 5 oz carton slightly foxed salad greens ("Organic Girl's 50/50 Spring Mix.")
1 tsp dried rosemary
3/4 c water
1 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar (A surprisingly useful thing to have lying around.)
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
First, peel potatoes and rinse.
Then throw them into your slow cooker with some salt and oil. Toss with your hands til they are nice and coated.
Wash your mushrooms, slice, throw into slow cooker. Add some pepper and rosemary and stuff.
The next step is definitely skippable if you are feeling direly lazy, but today I had some free time, so I did what you're supposed to and browned the chicken legs before throwing them into the crockpot:
All together now. Put the chicken into the crockpot on top of the mushrooms. Add more rosemary and salt and pepper. Throw some white wine vinegar and water in there.
Cover and set the timer for six hours on low.
About one or one and a half hours before you're ready to eat, throw in the salad greens. Mix the whole thing up. Don't worry, your food is probably cooked already. And what's the point of browning the chicken if it wasn't to kill all the germs?
Put the lid back on and walk away. Come back when it's ready, and serve. There's a lot of liquid, so you might want to go for a soup plate. But if you want to discard that delicious broth, be my guest.
If you don't like the way it tastes, add more white wine vinegar or salt or pepper or whatever.
FACTS AND FIGURES
Prep time: 30 min
Servings: 4 or 5
Agony rating: 4/10. Potatoes need peeling, veggies need chopping, chicken needs defatting, and the browning added ten minutes to prep time and an extra dish to wash. Plus there was an extra step with the salad greens etc.
Taste and stuff: 7/10. I wasn't blown away, but it was kind of tangy in an interesting way, and I feel good two hours later.
*COSTS OF STUFF I HAD TO BUY SPECIAL*
8 oz mushrooms $1.50
1 tub salad greens $3.99
6 sweet potatoes $2.31
5 chicken thighs $4.19
Olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, dried rosemary: pantry staples, already bought
Total cost of stuff I had to buy special: $11.99
Cost per serving: $3 even for 4 servings. Less if you stretch it out.
VERDICT: SUCCESS.
 |
| My gorgeous, blurry, messy melange of cost-effective nutrition conveyances. |
I adapted this recipe from Eating Well. But since I am the worst chef ever, I did not make it the way they prescribed. First of all, no wine and no fresh rosemary. They both violate rule #1 of being the worst chef ever: the rule of waste. If a recipe calls for an ingredient that you can only buy in a quantity larger than what you'll use, and that ingredient will spoil if you don't use all of it, and you probably won't use the rest of it anyways, then find another ingredient. Two sprigs of rosemary? The grocery only sells packets of six and it's January so my herb garden is yielding zilch. One cup of wine? I'm not drinking much these days and wine only lasts so long.
Second, I eliminated the shallots and garlic because they're high in FODMAPs. But I kept the mushrooms. You can skip them.
Third, I have a bucket of salad greens a few days past their prime--perfect for the slow cooker.
So, let's review the ingredients. All measurements are approximate:
5-6 bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed of skin and fat (about 2 lbs)
6 sweet potatoes (about 3 lbs)
1 carton white mushrooms (mine was 8 oz but you can add more)
1 5 oz carton slightly foxed salad greens ("Organic Girl's 50/50 Spring Mix.")
1 tsp dried rosemary
3/4 c water
1 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar (A surprisingly useful thing to have lying around.)
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
First, peel potatoes and rinse.
Then throw them into your slow cooker with some salt and oil. Toss with your hands til they are nice and coated.
Wash your mushrooms, slice, throw into slow cooker. Add some pepper and rosemary and stuff.
The next step is definitely skippable if you are feeling direly lazy, but today I had some free time, so I did what you're supposed to and browned the chicken legs before throwing them into the crockpot:
 |
| Yuck. |
 |
| Yum. |
Cover and set the timer for six hours on low.
 |
| Or something. |
About one or one and a half hours before you're ready to eat, throw in the salad greens. Mix the whole thing up. Don't worry, your food is probably cooked already. And what's the point of browning the chicken if it wasn't to kill all the germs?
Put the lid back on and walk away. Come back when it's ready, and serve. There's a lot of liquid, so you might want to go for a soup plate. But if you want to discard that delicious broth, be my guest.
 |
| Well, at least it's colorful. |
If you don't like the way it tastes, add more white wine vinegar or salt or pepper or whatever.
FACTS AND FIGURES
Prep time: 30 min
Servings: 4 or 5
Agony rating: 4/10. Potatoes need peeling, veggies need chopping, chicken needs defatting, and the browning added ten minutes to prep time and an extra dish to wash. Plus there was an extra step with the salad greens etc.
Taste and stuff: 7/10. I wasn't blown away, but it was kind of tangy in an interesting way, and I feel good two hours later.
*COSTS OF STUFF I HAD TO BUY SPECIAL*
8 oz mushrooms $1.50
1 tub salad greens $3.99
6 sweet potatoes $2.31
5 chicken thighs $4.19
Olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, dried rosemary: pantry staples, already bought
Total cost of stuff I had to buy special: $11.99
Cost per serving: $3 even for 4 servings. Less if you stretch it out.
VERDICT: SUCCESS.
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