Guest Post – Susan Conley: Slow Cooked Kale Sweet Potato Chicken Stew

Hi everyone! Today I’m pleased to present a guest post by Susan Conley from cookthestone.com! She’s sharing with us a delicious sounding recipe for Slow Cooked Kale Sweet Potato Chicken Stew. I do hope you’ll check out her blog and give us some feedback below in the comments!

How to make a slow cooked kale sweet potato chicken stew

Many people want quick and easy to cook meals, such as canned oyster stew and fried marinated pork with herb butter. And I can’t blame them, especially those who are always in a rush. If you’re working full-time, then you would appreciate making quick meals.

But sometimes, slow cooking can also be advantageous and healthy. Take for instance, slow cooking chicken.

Slow cooked chicken is loaded with the essential nutrients that you need to last the day. Moreover, it can also be considered convenient. Think about it— you simply toss the chicken into the slow cooker, set it and attend to your other tasks at home. After 4 to 5 hours, you would be ready to serve a delicious and healthy dinner for your family.

Continue reading to learn more about the benefits of eating slow cooked chicken. Later, I will share a kale sweet potato chicken stew.

Benefits of eating slow cooked chicken

Slow cooked chicken is considered healthier than grilled chicken. Why? It’s because grilling chicken can trigger glycation between sugars, proteins, and fats. Glycation is a result of burning meat. Worse, it can convert nutrients into compounds that cause cancer, damage arteries and organs.

On the other hand, slow cooking chicken is healthier because the meat is not directly in contact with the heat. Thus, it won’t cause a toxic reaction that may potentially lead to glycation.

Slow cooked chicken can also help in keeping our heart healthy. This is due to its high levels of taurine, an amino acid that supports good cardiovascular health. Taurine can increase the levels of good cholesterol in the body. It can also prevent arterial disorders and blood clots that may lead to stroke or an aneurysm.

Slow cooked chicken is also a great source of protein. This mineral is best known for building and repairing muscles. It can also promote weight loss. Protein also builds and repairs tissues, from the hair to the heart.

Finally, slow cooking chicken can preserve the nutrients found in the poultry. Nutrients are retained by trapping the chicken in a container. Slow cooking chicken can also enhance the natural flavors of the meat.

Tips in slow cooking chicken

Now that you are convinced that slow cooking chicken is the way to go, you might be raring to try the kale sweet potato chicken stew that I was mentioning earlier.

But before we go to the recipe, here are some pointers to keep in mind when slow cooking chicken:

1. Don’t overcrowd the slow cooker. It’s okay to slow cook whole chickens as long as it won’t overcrowd the cooker. The cooker should be up to two-thirds full, and its lid should fit snugly on top.
2. Leave it alone. Don’t take the lid off now and then as it would only release some of the heat, resulting in increased cooking time.
3. The proper way of layering: cut your ingredients into uniform-size pieces so that you would end up with even cooking. You should also place root vegetables like potatoes and carrots at the bottom of the slow cooker, with the chicken on top.
4. Never use frozen food. Loading a crock pot with chicken that’s fresh from the freezer is a bad idea. Aside from the obvious reason that it would take a while for the poultry to get cooked, it can also be dangerous because bacteria can flourish in the food. Thus, the chicken, as well as the veggies, must be fully thawed before you put them on the cooker.
5. Fresh herbs or even a squeeze of lemon juice can enhance the flavor of long-cooked recipes. I usually add these towards the end of the cooking process.

Kale Sweet Potato Chicken Stew

Ingredients:

• One pound of chicken breasts, slice into chunks
• One onion, diced
• Three carrots, peeled and cubed
• One big sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• Three cloves of garlic, minced
• One-third cup of tomato paste
• Three tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• Two teaspoons of gluten-free yellow mustard
• Three bay leaves
• A bunch of kales, with the stems removed and broken into pieces
• Salt and pepper to taste

Step by step guide:

1. Start by washing the chicken and slicing it into chunk size pieces. Place the cut chicken into a pot of slow cooker.
2. Add the cubed carrots, diced onion, and cubed sweet potatoes.Then add the garlic, tomato, chicken broth, vinegar, bay leaves and mustard. Stir to mix.
3. Place the crock pot on high heat for 4 to 5 hours. You’ll know that it is almost cooked when the sweet potato and carrots are tender. Add kale in the last hour and stir to combine.
4. Remove the bay leaves before serving.

That’s it! This recipe should make 4 to 5 servings. It may take hours for the chicken to get cooked, but it’s the perfect recipe if you are at home and you have a lot of things to work on.

Conclusion

Slow cooking chicken has many health benefits. It is also ideal for homemakers who are very busy, as they can let the slow cooker do its thing while they attend to their tasks at home.

How do you find this recipe? Let me hear from you by writing in the comments section below.

Interested in learning more about glycation?