Mexican Chicken Stew

I have my friend Jenn and my mother-in-law Cathy to thank for this recipe. I first was introduced to it by Jenn when she and her husband invited Michael and me over to their house for dinner. We liked the stew so much that I wrote down the recipe. But somehow I didn't get around to trying it myself. That is, until Cathy gave me a surprise present of the very cookbook containing the recipe. Then I knew that I really had to make this Mexican chicken stew.

In order to avoid ingredients containing corn, I have modified the recipe. However, I think that the flavor is still true to the original. A tip from Jenn is that you can use frozen or semi-frozen chicken breasts; the chicken doesn't have to be defrosted before putting it into the crock pot.

Mexican Chicken Stew
serves 4 to 6 adults

Ingredients:

• 1 jar of medium salsa. Use either Green Mountain Gringo salsa, Amy's salsa, or another brand that contains apple cider vinegar and does not contain any distilled white vinegar or citric acid.
• 1 28-ounce can of Cento crushed tomatoes OR 1 26-ounce box of Pomi strained tomatoes OR another brand of tomato puree that does not contain citric acid, which usually comes from corn.
• 2 15-ounce cans of black beans, undrained. Use cans that contain only black beans, water, and salt.
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder. Or if all you have is hot Mexican chili powder, which happened to me once, then use just 1 tsp.
• 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 to 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1.25 to 1.5 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts that are kosher, organic, or "all-natural" (about 3 to 4 half breasts depending on their size)
• 1 Tbsp. of lime juice
  
• fresh cilantro (optional)
• sour cream (optional)

Instructions:

Pour into the crock pot the salsa, crushed tomatoes, black beans with the liquid from their cans, chili powder, coriander, cumin, black pepper, oregano, chopped onion, and garlic. Stir these together. Thoroughly rinse the chicken breasts and then place them in the crock pot so that they are covered by the liquid. Put the cover on the crock pot and let the stew cook for 8 hours on low; or for 1 hour on high and then 6 hours on low.

After that time, remove the chicken from the crock pot and shred it using two forks. Return the chicken to the crock pot and stir it into the rest of the stew. Stir in the lime juice and then serve. You can sprinkle some chopped cilantro on the stew as a garnish, and you can also top each serving with a spoonful of sour cream.