Buffalo Chicken Stew

   Today I am sharing a recipe I created.  I might have to do this more often with the recipes I Frankenstein (I do a lot of tweaking sometimes) in an effort to blog more. 

    Earlier this week I made Buffalo Cauliflower Wings, a recipe I stumbled across on Pinterest.  And reminded me of how much I love anything Buffalo Sauce flavoured.  So I went pin-surfing for more recipes.  I found two different recipes for Buffalo Chicken Soup.  One had a lot of veggies and the other called for six cups of cream and THREE cans of cream of chicken soup!  Needless to say that last one horrified me but I liked the idea of a creamier soup.  So today I created my own version by somewhat combining the two.

 

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Stew

Ingredients:

1 tbsp oil or margarine (I used olive oil this time)

2 uncooked chicken breasts, cubed (you could use more but because I was adding lentils I just went with 2)



1/2 onion, finely chopped (so children don't notice it)
2 stalks of celery, finely chopped (see above reason)
fresh mushrooms (optional - you could also use tinned)
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed (next time I might parboil them so it doesn't take so long to cook)
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup or more lentils (optional and the amount to your liking - the ones I used were tinned)
cauliflower puree - optional. I puree veggies every so often and freeze them in bags to add an additional dose of vegetables to our meals
2 cups water
2 cups vegetable broth (you could use chicken broth, I opted for the organic veggie broth.  You could also use homemade)
2 cups/1 carton of Campbell's Stock First Cream Base (you could use 2 cups cream of milk if you prefer, I was just trying this product out to see how I liked it)
1/2 cup Buffalo Sauce (I use the pc brand but you could use hot sauce - and you can add more or less to taste)
1/4 cup flour
a pinch of thyme
2 tbsp. cornstarch

Let's assume you have done your prepping and chopping shall we?  Put the oil or margarine in a frying pan over medium heat.  Add the cubed chicken.  Cook until no longer pink and add onion and celery.  Went they start to look translucent, throw in your fresh mushrooms (if using).  Cook for another 3-5 minutes. 

 

Put the potatoes, carrots and lentils in the slow cooker.  And cauliflower puree, if using.  Add the chicken, onions, celery, and mushrooms from the frying pan.  Add two cups water, two cups broth, the Campbell's Stock First, and the half cup of Buffalo Sauce to the slow cooker.

Stir.  The ladle out about a cup and a half of the broth and whisk in the flour.  Add back to slow cooker and add the pinch of thyme.
Cook on high for 6-7 hours. (lessen this time if you parboiled your potatoes).
Ladle out a cup of broth and add a tablespoon of cornstarch.  Mix well.  Add back to pot and repeat this step with the second tablespoon of cornstarch.
Top with grated cheese (Blue if you want to keep with the Buffalo Chicken theme.  I used Havarti) and a drizzle of Buffalo Sauce.

Ta-da!  The perfect dish for a snowy day like today.