Dinner

I had some sweet potatoes I bought a few weeks ago and I figured I ought to use them soon so that they wouldn't go bad. I am LOVING sweet potatoes/yams recently. My friend Anna had sent me a recipe for a chicken chili with sweet potatoes, but I didn't have all the ingredients for it, so I began browsing the web for a suitable/similar recipe.

I found a link for a vegan sweet potato stew. I figured it would be a good idea to add some more protein besides just the little bit of beans so I added chicken.

One thing I do to help myself with meal prep now that I have a baby is to cook common meats in bulk. Now if you know me, you know that I am not on super friendly terms with meat. I'm reallllllllllly picky about my meat. That being said I basically cook with ground beef and chicken breasts. Sometimes I use pork, but I don't venture much further or even into different cuts of meat. It's just a little scary and unknown and not really in my repertoire. Maybe that will be a New Year's Resolution of mine..

Anyway, I buy a bag of chicken breasts, throw them in my crockpot and add my basic spices: salt, pepper, garlic and oregano. (I can spice them further when I know how I will be using them later on down the road in different recipes - Italian, Mexican etc.) Maybe if I'm digging through the cupboard I'll add another spice or two. Throw the lid on and cook 'em all day. By all day, I mean several hours. After those hours have passed I use my tongs that look like this:


And just attack the meat while it's still in the crockpot and shred, shred, shred. I used to pull the meat out and wait for it too cool then shred it all by hand. Time consuming! This works waaay better. Then I just use quart size freezer bags and portion the meat into the bags and throw it in my freezer. Then when I need it, I just pull a bag out. Last night with the stew, the chicken was still totally frozen, but who cares when you're throwing it in a crockpot? So quick and handy.

Back to the stew. It was GOOD! Adam really liked it. I also tried a new biscuit recipe.

I can't find the link again for the stew, but here is the biscuit recipe.

Sweet Potato Stew:

Saute:
1/2 c onion - chopped
1 garlic clove - chopped
olive oil

Throw in crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours:
The above onions and garlic
4 c sweet potatoes (1/2" cubed)
1-1/2 c red beans ( I used a can of kidney beans and a can of black beans)
1-1/2 c broth
1 c red bell pepper - chopped (I didn't have it so I didn't use it)
1/2 c water
1 (14.5oz) can diced tomatoes - drained
1 (4 or 4.5 oz) can chopped green chiles - drained
1tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cumin
salt
pepper

THEN:
scoop out some broth - about a cup - and whisk in 3 Tbsp of peanut butter. I also whisked in a few spoonfuls of flour because the stew seemed more soupy/brothy and I wanted it thick and stewy. Pour that mixture back into the crockpot. Stir and serve.

The recipe said you could sprinkle chopped peanuts on top. I didn't have any but it would be good. With the amount of my sweet potatoes I ended up having to 1-1/2 times this recipe. It made a lot. My crockpot was pretty full. So I portioned the leftovers out into 2 quart size freezer bags (they are good friends of mine) and will freeze the leftovers so that we don't have to eat sweet potato stew for the rest of the week.



=)