Mexican Chicken Stew

I will add a picture of this later. We have had this every week since I found the recipe tucked away in my arsenal of recipes that I want to try. My friend, Erika, in Madison brought me dinner one time when I was sick. It was called "Mexican Pot Roast" and it was REALLY good. I didn't have beef, and I did some different things with this recipe to make it what is published below. My kids love it and I always hope there are left overs. This is a great meal to sneak veggies into. I have used onion, red pepper, sweet potato, butternut squash, and tomatoes in this one. I love that they can get 5 different veggies in this meal, plus protein and whole grains.



Chicken, you can have it cut in chunks, or the whole breast

1 to 2 cups salsa (start with 1 and then add more if you want)


1 onion, diced (or in chunks if you are roasting and pureeing)


1 red pepper cut in chunks


Extra Virgin Olive Oil, salt and pepper, about 1 Tablespoon sugar


(Other optional veggies - butternut squash sweet potato -peel, cut in chunks, and roast with other veggies)- You will puree them to avoid picky kid detection)

1 hot pepper or jalapeno (totally optional, you could also use some cayenne pepper if you want it a little hotter)
1 14 oz can tomatoes, undrained

2 cloves garlic or 1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 Tablespoons vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon oregano

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup to 3/4 cup water as needed (I use chicken broth)

cilantro (optional, but tastes great and looks pretty too.)

Lime Juice (I use at least 2 to 3 Tablespoons. This really adds flavor and it is really good)

If I had some fresh limes I would use lime slices as a garnish and then everyone can add more lime juice if they want. We just have the bottle of lime juice at the table, really classy, right?

1/2 cup slivered almonds (optional, but gives it a really nice crunch)

brown rice, cooked

You could also serve this over a baked potato.



Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine onion an red pepper (and other veggies if using). Drizzle with EVOO and put veggies in a greased 9 by 13 pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and sugar. Roast in oven 20 min and stir, roast another 10 minutes. Combine all veggies,vinegar and salsa in food processor or blender and puree. Pour into crock pot or large pot. Add spices and chicken. Cook until chicken is done. (Low or High depending on how fast you want it to cook) Serve over rice or baked potato.