Sweet Potato & Chicken Stew - Slow Cooker

Sweet Potato & Chicken Stew

Ok, last year I bought my husband a slow cooker for Father's Day. Some might say that is a lame present but I also bought him some of those waterproof travel bags you can take kayaking etc so I think it balanced out. Since the date of purchase however we have used the slow cooker a grand total of... once, and I can't even remember what we made.

The reason for this is because I am a slow cooker skeptic. I just don't understand how it all works and find it hard to believe that in 7 hours all those raw ingredients will produce a beautiful stew. It also doesn't help that I look through the glass lid every 20 minutes or so and see that nothing has happened.

I find it a bit boring BUT can see the enormous benefits. So today I decided to take out the slow cooker and give a new recipe a try. Nothing too fancy but delicious just the same and it allowed me to indulge my sweet potato/kumara obsession. The recipe below would serve 4.


Here's what you need:
2 medium orange sweet potatoes, peeled & cut into chunks
2 brushed potatoes, peeled & cut into quarters

everything in

2 medium carrots, peeled & cut in chunks
6 chicken drumsticks, skin removed (or as many as you need)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup chicken stock (I used store bought because I was lazy)
1 can of whole tomatoes
2 tbspn flour
2 tbspn fresh thyme
salt to your liking (I didn't salt mine but should have)

7 hours to go

Here's what you do:
Put everything in the slow cooker and give it a quick stir. Put the lid on and set the time for 7 1/2 hours and cook on low. If you want it faster set cook temperature to high for 5 hours. How easy is that!

We made some rice in the rice cooker to serve it with when time was up. I shredded the chicken from the bone (it just fell off), scooped up the vegetables and poured some of the stew over it all. My son ate it up as well and it was pretty tasty. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato & Pear Soup

The best part of cooking this soup was smelling the butter cooking at the start - dreamy! This recipe was adapted from the Family Circle Quick Short Recipes cookbook and it was super easy and tasty. The recipe made 5 kid sized serves (which I put in the freezer) and 2 adult serves.

Here's what'll you need:

25g butter
1 onion chopped finely
3 medium sized, orange sweet potatoes (or 750g) peeled & chopped into 2cm cubes
2 firm pears, peeled, cored, and chopped
3 cups or 750ml stock (chicken or vegetable). I used pre-made stock as it was easier for me today.
1 cup cream or milk

Here's what you do:

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the onion and cook for about 3mins or until the onion is soft, almost see-through. Add the chopped sweet potato and pear and stir for 2mins then add stock, bring to the boil and cook for 20mins. I have made chicken stock from scratch before but i just wanted a quick Sunday dinner so use store bought stock.

Place the mixture in a blender or Magimix and blend until smooth (I love my Magimx!). I then spooned 4 large spoons of the soup in tupperware containers without adding the cream, you can do this when reheating at a later date. If you are going to eat immediately return the mixture to your saucepan, stir in the cream (I used milk) and reheat slowly. Season with salt or pepper and that's it, enjoy!