Chicken Brunswick Stew

Cold season has hit my house hard this week. Of course, like always I have gotten sicker than everyone else. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that the bus stop for my oldest son is over a block away and I have to wait 10 minutes in the freezing cold every morning and afternoon. If you are wondering why I wait 10 minutes, I tried leaving later a few times and of course the bus was early. So I have a 10 minute span of when the bus 'might' come. Last winter as some of you probably know I was lucky (not) enough to come down with pneumonia and ended up in the hospital. Apparently being very small with a not so fabulous immune system isn't so great as you get older. And by older I mean 30. Ever since I turned 30 it seems my health has taken a nose dive. Low potassium, low iron, gluten intolerance, migraines you name it. So this week I am suffering through a nasty cold with a hyper four-year-old at home and making lots of stew, soup and chili. There is something so comforting about warm foods when you feel not at your best. This week I tried a new recipe for Chicken Brunswick Stew from the January 2013 issue of Family Circle, which looked like perfect comfort food.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 6 hours on high in the Crock-pot, 10 minutes of prep and makes 6 servings. I actually had a hard time finding canned butter beans in my area. I had to go to multiple stores to find the beans since they seem to be scarce in my city. As I always do I used a crock-pot liner instead of spraying cooking spray in the slow cooker bowl. I find the liners to be much easier to use and make a lot less dishes to wash. Make sure to add additional salt before serving. Since the recipe utilizes potatoes it needs a decent amount of salt to have flavor. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My husband was very impressed with this recipe. It turned out very tender and the chicken literally fell off the bone before being shredded. I really don't serve okra often, since it can become slimy when cooked. However, the okra in this recipe was cooked perfectly and delicious.  Brunswick stew is one of my husband's favorite dishes and this recipe was definitely a hit.

For the recipe go to Chicken Brunswick Stew.

Triple Bean Bake with Bacon

My mother cooked a lot of great meals growing-up. We never had a lot of money, but she was always able to make something delicious. The one food that she never really made was beans. She would occasionally use beans in chili or soup, but it wasn't a huge stable in our diet. I think a lot of it had to do with my dad being a huge meat eater and the local church by our house giving out meat every week to families. It was also the 80's when everyone ate more meat than they do now. Even when I moved out on my own and was a vegetarian I ate a lot of tofu and nuts, but beans were always an after thought. None of my friends seemed to eat a lot of beans either, so maybe Seattle in the 90's had a bean aversion. When I moved to West Virginia, beans were everywhere. Restaurants, grocery stores you name it beans were there. It took me a long time to adjust to eating beans on a regular basis, but eventually they became a stable in my diet. My two kids have always eaten beans and absolutely love them. They become very excited when I make a recipe with their favorite type of bean. Last week I tried a new recipe from the June/July issue of Taste of Home magazine for Triple Bean Bake with Bacon, which looked sweet and full of one of my family's favorite foods, bacon.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of baking, 15 minutes of prep and makes 8 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. My husband is very particular about the type of bacon that we buy and insists on thick-cut. I do admit that thick-cut bacon is delicious and works very well in recipes. I prefer to keep my bacon whole when frying and then cut it into pieces when finished. The texture is better and the bacon is crispier when fried in this manner. I let my beans bake for an additional 15 minutes after the suggested baking time in the recipe. This additional time allowed the beans to fully thicken. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These beans turned out very sweet with a bit of a kick from the horseradish. My two boys really loved these beans and ate their whole servings. The level of sweetness could be adjusted based on the strength of the horseradish that you use. Milder horseradish will make for sweeter beans. I do suggest the additional baking time in order for the beans to thicken completely. This dish would be a great side dish for roasted or fried chicken.

For the recipe go to Triple Bean Bake with Bacon. (registration required)