Home-style Chicken & Sweet Potato Stew

For reasons I can't quite suss out, there are a handful of soup recipes in the Main Dishes section. Perhaps having a Soup section was a late-in-the-game decision, and some of the soup recipes hid here? Perhaps they were deemed hearty enough to be considered main courses in lieu of appetizer-y soups? I have no idea.

Regardless of reason, what I do know is that the next recipe up was the somewhat un-summery Home-style Chicken & Sweet Potato Stew from Trish & Ray Strah, Iowans, friends of Josh's family, and contributors of the Cream of Portobello Soup. Apparently Trish & Ray have a thing for soup. Who knew?

The soup was pretty easy to make, although there was a lot of chopping and cubing of things, which means I slightly underestimated the prep time (time estimation - not one of my strong points). Sean & Bekah came over to be our test subjects--it was as a precursor to the soup that they gobbled down what was left of the veggie dip--and Bekah graciously and adeptly helped man the pot while I finished measuring things out so that we could get the show on the road.

True to Ray & Trish's promise, everyone seemed to really dig the stew--save for me of course, who was caught pushing it around in my bowl by both Sean & Bekah, who are now completely onto me. In fact, there was a complete and fairly amusing immitation of me eating something--or not eating it, rather, and trying to cover the fact that I'm not very excited about it by chatting. Not that I despised the stew, I just wasn't particularly moved by it either way.

Demonstrating for me what it looks like when
you are excited for your food

I think poor Sean and Bekah are getting an entirely skewed perspective of me as someone fussier than I actually am. Not to sit here and say that I love everything, because that would obviously be an enormous lie. However, when one chooses what to make or goes out to dinner and orders something, as is the usual procedure, one usually likes what one eats. As I have no real say in what I am making while on this project, I am obviously eating a lot of things that I already know I don't love, which therefore gives perhaps a falsely inflated perspective that I do not like anything.

That and it appears that I don't like more things than other people. There's that, too.

Regardless, when it came time for dessert, Sean and Bekah had brought over strawberries and cream, which they happily noted to each other I all but buried my face in while siphoning them down. After all, who doesn't like strawberries? (Well, actually, my dad. My dad doesn't like strawberries). And putting cream and sugar on them? Delightful. But you're not here to hear about that, are you?

Finally, something I cooked that isn't yellow

Ray & Trish's Heather-Busting Home-Style Chicken & Sweet Potato Stew

4 boneless chicken breasts
garlic salt & pepper
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup canola oil
2 cups cubed, scrubbed yams (or sweet potatoes. anyone know the difference?)
1 (14.5 oz) can stewed or diced tomatoes, lightly crushed (by Bekah)
3/4 cup chicken broth
3/4 cup apple cider (or apple juice, since the ghetto grocery didn't have cider)
1/2 tsp dried dillweed
Dash hot sauce
1 tsp chicken soup base or 1 chicken bouillon cube

Rinse chicken and pat dry. Cut into 1/2 inch pieces. Sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper. Place flour in plastic bag. Add chicken and shake until well coated, trying not to imagine you are flinging microscopic droplets of raw salmonella-filled chicken juice all over the kitchen.

In large stockpot, heat oil. Add chicken. Cook on both sides until golden brown, or somewhat done and the time is going by and you have to get things done and eat so you declare it good enough. Remove chicken and set aside.

In same pot, add in yams and onions. Make Bekah saute a few minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients. Make Bekah blend well. Add browned chicken; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 25-30 minutes until yams are tender. Stir often, or forget this part, and salt to taste.

Trish notes: We all love this stew! I often make it for others if they need a meal and can't cook for some reason. Enjoy! It warms up well the next day.