Chicken Stew

I made this on Christmas Eve for a nice comfort-food meal before our Christmas Eve church events. It was also a way to make an Americanized version of a Ghanaian Christmas tradition (my daughter researched Ghana's Christmas traditions because friends of hers just had their new brother and sister adopted from Ghana arrive home on the morning of Christmas Eve this year and my daughter wanted to make something that was a Ghana tradition). I looked up a traditional Ghana Chicken Stew recipe and it did not look appetizing. So, I looked for an American chicken stew instead. Here's an adaptation of what I found.

• 3 cups red potatoes, cubed
• 3 cups carrots, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
• 4 celery stalks, washed and cut into bite-sized pieces.
• 1 cup freshly chopped onion
• 1 tsp. fresh minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon sage
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme  
•  4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 recipe of condensed cream soup
• salt & pepper to taste 

Directions:

1. Place all items into crockpot, stir until everything is coated with the cream soup. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

**It will seem very thick initially, but as the chicken cooks, its juices will render out and create a little bit of liquid. This creates about 6 servings.

Adapted from: http://www.food.com/recipe/crockpot-chicken-stew-422135#ixzz1hUibHMGC

Mint Squares

This can be made either with chocolate or with carob.

Mint Squares

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

4 eggs

1 cup Pamela's Pancake & Baking Mix

1 can sweetened condensed milk

3-4 TBSP carob powder (or unsweetened cocoa powder) - I used Chatfield's carob powder

1 tsp. vanilla

***

3 cups confectioner's sugar

3/4 cup melted butter or margarine

4 TBSP peppermint extract (I used Simply Organic)

3-4 drops green food coloring

***

2 -12oz. bags GF chocolate chips (or white chocolate chips if doing cocoa/chocolate-free)

7 TBSP butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*.

2. Mix sweetened condensed milk and carob/cocoa powder in a small bowl.

3. Mix sugar, butter, eggs, baking mix, carob/cocoa mixture, and vanilla with an electric hand mixer until mixed well.

4. Bake for 33-35 minutes.

***

5. Once cake portion has cooled, mix confectioner's sugar, melted butter, peppermint extract, and green food coloring.

6. Spread over cooled cake.

7. Put into freezer for about 15 minutes until layer has firmed up.

***

8. Melt chips and butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat.

9. Spread over mint layer. Chill before cutting and serving.

Tilapia Packets with Garlic Cheese Sauce for Crockpot

3-4 Tilapia fillets or other white fish
1/2 cup mayonnaise (Hellmann's is gluten-free)
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
5 Tbs. of lemon juice
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Stir the sauce together (all ingredients except the fish).


2. Put a little sauce on the foil, place fillet on top and then top fillet with more sauce. Then wrap into a foil packet. Repeat with remaining tilapia and sauce.

3. Place all the packets in the crockpot, stacking them on top of each other. If using frozen tilapia, heat on high for about 30 minutes before lowering the temperature to your crockpot's low setting. Cook for an additional 4 hours until fish is flaky.

4. Since you are doing this in packets, you can also add small potatoes to your crock pot to cook, if you have room and would like potatoes with your meal. I'm choosing to serve brown rice with our fish.