Southwestern-Style Chicken Stew

This is an awesome slow-cooker recipe that I've made a couple of times now, both with good reviews.
Slow Cooker recipes are wonderful because:
a) they don't require you to be very precise about measurements (something I generally dislike);
b) they don't require any special cooking skills; and
c) they turn out so beautifully, suggesting to your guests that you are, in fact, a very accomplished chef!

What more could you ask for in a recipe?? OH, and they make the house smell fantastic.


Southwestern-Style Chicken Stew
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 4 - 4.5 hours

Non-food stuff you need:
Crock Pot or other slow cooker

Ingredients:
2 large white baking potatoes, cut into chunks
1 small package frozen sweet corn
2 stalks celery, chopped
12-15 baby carrots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, thickly chopped
1 (12-ish oz.) jar medium salsa
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin (don't be tempted to leave this or the chile powder out. they MAKE the stew.)
1 teaspoon chile powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, halved
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
4 (6 inch) fresh corn or wheat tortillas, cut into strips
Canola or vegetable oil cooking spray
1 (6 oz.) container fat free plain yogurt or low fat sour cream
1/2 cup of fresh cilantro, chopped
2 fresh limes, thickly sliced
1 bag of grated colby jack or other blended cheese

Directions:

Heat crock pot to high. Place potatoes, corn, celery, carrots, onion and garlic inside. Stir in salsa, cumin, chile powder and garlic salt. Distribute chicken evenly on top of vegetables and pour chicken broth over chicken. Cover crock pot and cook stew on high for 4 hours.
When the chicken is cooked thoroughly, transfer the pieces to a cutting board and shred with two forks into bite-size chunks. Return pulled chicken pieces to crock pot.

In the meantime, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. With a pair of kitchen scissors, cut tortillas into strips and place on cookie sheet. Coat pieces lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with garlic salt. Bake on middle shelf for five minutes, take out and toss and return to middle shelf for another five minutes. Keep on eye on these things... as soon as they turn golden brown and crispy, remove them.

Serve stew warm, topped with crispy tortilla strips. Offer yogurt/sour cream, fresh cilantro, limes and grated cheese as some ultra-delicious final touches.





Enjoy!